City of Wandering Shadows
by alyssss
Summary: (SPOILERS- TMI & TID)The Battle at the Seventh Site takes a turn in what can only be described as a downhill direction. Simon vanishes, Clary is dying and with Sebastian missing and the connection still untouched, how will Jace fare? (Set just after the events of City of Lost Souls, moving in an alternate direction but overlapping with the possible events of City of Heavenly Fire)
1. Prologue

Jace followed Clary through the crowd as she dodged demonised Shadowhunters and ducked the werewolves flying overhead. Blades flashed around her as she ran towards her shining beacon of hope: Simon running through the battle with a gleaming gold sword slung across his shoulders. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Sebastian curse and start to sprint away from the battle as his last line of defence began to fall apart... Panting, her hair sticking to the back of her neck, sodden with sweat, she reached Simon and shouted out to him over the sound of battle, shoving her arm forward to touch his shoulder. "Give me the sword!"

He swung around, wide-eyed, with the sword raised in his outstretched arms. Time slowed down as a woman appeared from nowhere, her eyes wide with the frenzy of battle. She screamed and swung her arm towards Clary, a black blade clutched in her bony, wrinkled hand. Pain rippled up Clary's body and she fell forwards, her vision already beginning to blur at the edges as the red dress became sodden and stained almost black in the moonlight. Jace ran up behind her and gripped her shoulders with his hands, holding her upright with firm fingers as she looked up at Simon with darkening vision, hot tears already streaming down her cheeks. Amatis raised the knife again and the moonlight glinted on the blade as she grinned down at Clary, her eyes empty and black.

Simon stared Jace straight in the eyes, holding his gaze with a single unspoken request. _Save her_. He looked at her with wide, sorry eyes, then turned his back on them and vanished back into the thick of the battle, the Angel sword slung over his shoulder.  
Clary's body flopped sideways, the familiar burn of demon poison flowing through her veins. It clouded her vision, and the world spun around her as her head fell against the damp grass of the plain. She watched from the ground as Jace lurched forwards, putting himself between Amatis and Clary, and raised his fists. Before Jace could touch Amatis, Isabelle seemed to fall from the sky, screaming. With one calculated movement, she flicked her whip around Amatis' neck and pulled, separating her head from her body. The head fell to the ground with a thud, her eyes still open, her mouth wide in a grotesque grin.

Jace leaned down, putting his face over Clary's, his golden hair glinting in the moonlight as he cradled her face with a sticky hand. His mouth moved silently as he shouted down at her to stay awake, but she was already too far gone, her eyes drifting shut. The demon poison invaded her brain with foggy tendrils, violating her consciousness and dragging her down into the darkness.


	2. Chapter 1

She rose out of the fog, her head still spinning, and sat up. Nothing hurt anymore- there was no more pain, and when she looked down at herself there wasn't any blood, either. The long red dress was ripped across the midriff, but there was no wound, not even a scar. Blinking, Clary touched her hand to the white of her stomach, shuddering as her fingers stroked ice. It almost felt as if she weighed nothing at all as she sat up completely, her hand holding her head to her shoulders as the world spun around her. Standing up, she shook her hair back and gazed around the battlefield at the fallen bodies.

Dark and light alike lay strewn across the bloody ground, Downworlders and Nephilim and the Dark Shadowhunters lying in crumpled piles amongst burning pyres, suddenly all very similar in death. When Clary looked down, she saw a flash of bright red hair, strewn across the lap of a golden-haired boy. She almost fell over in shock as she looked down at her feet, and saw that she was standing in the huge gash across her own stomach.

_How is this even possible?_ She jumped backwards and landed nimbly on the ground beside her body, her stomach reeling. _Am I dead? A ghost?_

Jace knelt under her head, cradling her skull in his lap. His hands rested on either side of her face, his long fingers desperately caressing her cheeks, clawing through her hair. "Clary… wake up. Come on. You're alive. I know you are. Wake up." His chest rose and fell in ripples of grief, his hands shaking as he brushed a stray strand of hair away from her grey face. "_Please_."

Alec, too, knelt beside Clary's body, pressing his navy blue thermal shirt into the wound in her stomach. Almost immediately his hands were stained red with her blood, but his blue eyes burned with the kind of determination he only ever showed around Magnus. _Come on, Clary. You will not give up on me._ His hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat and blood, his bow slung across his back with an empty quiver of arrows. He grabbed her wrist with one of his hands and felt for a pulse, closing his eyes to block out everything else… then looked up with a smile as he detected the faint flutter beneath his fingertips. "She's alive," He breathed.

Clary glanced up from the scene below her and cast her eyes around the battlefield for any sign of Magnus' spiky hair, his sparkling armour… but he was nowhere to be seen. She decided that he was probably off helping other casualties or burning the dead, as it was customary for Nephilim to do… but she was worried. What if he'd been killed in the battle? Who would save her?

On the right of her body sat Isabelle, her eyes dark and unseeing. She had her pale arms wrapped around her knees and was gazing down at Clary's still face, shivering in the damp cold of early winter. Despite everything, Clary was almost like a sister to her now. Her electrum whip- crusted with dried blood- lay at her side, forgotten as she was to Alec as he remained bent over the wound in Clary's front. As Clary looked down on him, Alec shifted his gaze to Isabelle and looked right into her eyes. "I need you to get your stele, okay? She needs an iratze- _quickly_."

She didn't move, just stared down at the ever paling face below her and opened her mouth slightly, trembling with shock. Clary reached out and touched her- her hand going straight through Isabelle's shoulder. The older girl shivered violently and her mouth fell open completely as she rummaged in her pockets to find her stele. Clary's arm stung as Isabelle and started to trace the runes into her skin, and she began to feel an odd twisting in her stomach as the etches worked their power. Her heart was heavy as she came to understand what this all meant. They couldn't see her, and her touch did nothing but sent a cold chill through their bodies. She couldn't talk to them, tell them that they're alright. She couldn't hold a stele to draw a rune and get herself out of there. Never had she felt so trapped, even when Hodge had cut her off from Jace with an invisible barrier. No, this was worse... because she could get as close to him as she wanted and he would never, ever know.

Isabelle was halfway through a second iratze when Magnus ran over to them, gently resting his hand on Alec's shoulder and pushing him to one side so that he could reach Clary's body. Alec took his hand to give him strength as Magnus trained his catlike eyes on her face and rested his hand over her heart. "It's still beating- but only just." Blue sparks flew from his fingertips and sunk through her skin, warming her up from the inside. He moved the blue shirt gingerly away from her stomach and smiled grimly. "Okay the iratze has done its job well enough- but we need to get back to the institute so I can treat her properly. Where's Simon?" The others shook their heads, their expressions grim. "Alec, lift her up- and be careful, that wound's only healed enough to stop bleeding and you could rip it open again in a heartbeat. Isabelle- get your whip ready in case any of the Dark Shadowhunters decide it's time for a second round. Head over to the tomb so I can draw a portal and get us back to New York." They nodded, and Alec scooped Clary's body up in a single motion, holding her close to his chest. Jace stumbled to his feet, walking after them in a daze. His eyes were focused on his bloody hands- _why? Where had this come from?_ They started to walk away across the plain and Magnus waited until they were out of earshot before turning to the real Clary and looking in her direction with hurt and worry in his eyes.

"I know you're there, Clary. I can sense it, like someone watching me. You're not dead, and if I can help it you're not going to end up that way. Whatever Amatis hit you with… she got you good. And I'm going to try my best to get you," he inclined his head slightly in her direction, "back in there." Somehow, even though the warlock could not see her, he managed to look her right in the eye. Clary reached out, putting her hand onto his outstretched arm. He smiled sadly, and turned away from her to follow in the footsteps of the others. "It might be a good idea to portal back with us. Stay close to your body, Clary. I'll work on it- I promise I'll find a way to help you come back to us."

A large crowd of shadowhunters and werewolves were gathered around the tomb, some standing tall with just a few scratches, others leaning against each other for support and one or two lying, like Clary, in the arms of another. Half of these, she could see, were already dead. There was no way even a shadowhunter could survive some of these injuries, yet their companions seemed unable to give up hope. There was not nearly enough of them left standing, considering how many had rushed into the battle to start with. Magnus stood before them all and raised his arms, and the crowd fell silent with an eerie finality. "I am Magnus Bane, the high Warlock of Brooklyn. I am going to construct a Portal- those among you that require medical attention should use it to travel to the infirmary at the Institute in New York, where Maryse Lightwood has organised for a team of medics to meet and treat you. Those of you with more minor injuries or none at all may use the portal after everyone else to transport to wherever you see fit. Capiche?"

A murmur of assent rippled through the crowd and those few shadowhunters or werewolves clutching their unconscious companions stepped forward to form a semicircle around Magnus as he began to draw a wide arch in mid-air. Clary walked through the crowd- quite literally- and stood beside Jace. Just as the portal flickered into existence she put her hand out to touch him, her heart dropping into her stomach as he moved forwards and through the shimmering arch. Her eyes stung with tears that would never come, and she stepped forwards and through the portal.

The others were already in the infirmary when she got there, laying Clary's body on one of the beds. Other shadowhunters blinked into the room with casualties of their own and lay them on the other beds, and the medics rushed across to help them. Catarina Loss- with her bright blue skin and shining eyes- ran over to Clary's body and ushered Alec, Jace and Isabelle from the room as she pulled the blue curtain around the bed. As he stalked down the aisle between the beds, Jace stepped right through Clary without so much as a shiver. _It's true then. He can't see me. Can't feel me. Has no idea that I'm here, really _here_._

Without thinking Clary stepped through the curtains and stood beside herself, looking down as Catarina pulled the torn and bloody dress off her body and replaced it with a soft white gown. Despite having only been a shadowhunter for a matter of months, Clary's skin was already littered with the thin white lines of spent runes. The thick red line across her stomach was the newest and most striking of all the scars, with spidery black lines branching off of it. The same lines followed the veins in her neck and on her wrists- the demon poison working its way through her system. Catarina looked up through her eyelashes at the spot where Clary stood, then shook her head rapidly and pulled her body's eyelids open, shining a tiny torch into her unseeing eyes.

The curtains blew aside as Magnus stepped into the cubicle, cracking his fingers. Catarina flexed hers too but Magnus shooed her away with a wave of his hand. "I've got it- go and help the others. Clary's case is different- more complex. I need to figure everything out before we can actually do anything to help her, anyway." She ducked back through the curtains and into the main hustle of the infirmary, and Magnus looked up at Clary again, away from her body. "Any chance of you giving me some peace and quiet, Fray?"

He must have sensed her hostility because he just shook his head and continued regardless of her presence, picking up her arm and examining the black lines on her wrist. Red sparks flew from his fingers as he ran them over her skin, filling the air with the scent of rotting garbage. Suddenly Clary couldn't bring herself to stay any longer. She turned on her heel and ran back through the infirmary, blocking from her mind the sights and sounds of the dying shadowhunters lying on their backs on the other beds, trying not to think about what would happen to_ her_ if Magnus couldn't help.

Clary ran through the institute, her feet making no sound as they pounded the marble floor. She found Alec sitting in his room pulling at a loose thread on his thermal shirt, his eyes open and staring at the photograph of him and Magnus blu-tacked to his door. Isabelle was in her room too, lying on her bed and staring up at the ceiling, coiling and uncoiling her whip through her fingers. She turned her head towards Clary as she entered her room and for a second, Clary wondered if she could see her, but her blank, confused expression said otherwise. Without moving her head from her pillow, she wriggled her body under her covers and wrapped them around herself like a cocoon.

Next she went up to Jace's room, but he was nowhere to be found. His room was tidy as always, still untouched from when he was last there. Pushing her hair back from her face, she turned away and walked through the wall- being a non-corporeal entity had its perks- and across the institute to the library.

As she suspected, this is where she would find him. However, he was not alone. Maryse Lightwood stood before him, her hands on either side of his face. "What have you done to my son?" She forced her face so close to his that she could probably kiss him, but the expression on her face suggested that her motives were somewhat… different. When she next spoke, she did so in a whisper more menacing than Clary had ever heard leave her lips. "What have you done?"

Jace's eyes were blank, looking past Maryse and at the wall behind her. His pale face was smudged with dirt, his red shirt crusted with mud. His hands were coated in dried blood- Clary's. Even as she watched, tears trickled down his cheeks and cut tracks in the grime. His lips were slightly parted and Clary wanted nothing more than to run up to him and place her lips against them, to hold him close and tell him that he's okay… but he didn't even know she was there. She turned, angry at herself as well as everything else._  
_


	3. Chapter 2

Back in the infirmary, the curtains around the bed were still drawn. Most of the other beds seemed empty, but one closest the door had a large shapeless white lump on it. _A body_, Clary thought with a lump in her throat. _An actual body_. When she stepped to her bedside, she saw with a smile that Magnus was sat on a plush armchair beside the bed, his eyes closed and his forehead resting lightly on his fingers. Even as Clary stood there, Isabelle and Alec slipped through the curtains, standing in silence and watching her chest rise and fall with nervous stares. Jace followed shortly afterwards, his bloody gear replaced with a black t-shirt, his face stripped of the tears and the grime, but his skin still pale with grief. Something in his eyes told her he was still Sebastian's Jace, still not the Jace she knew, but she couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

Magnus' eyes snapped open and he looked one at a time at the three siblings, then his eyes slid across to her body. "The blade that Amatis hit Clary with… it did something to… to separate her soul from her body. What you see here…" He motions to the bed. "It isn't her- it isn't anyone. It's Clary's body, but Clary isn't there anymore." Isabelle went pale and gripped Jace's hand, but he shook her off and continued to look down at the body with a stony expression on his face. "It is to my understanding that Clary exists as a non-corporeal being. That is, her soul has the ability to wander the earth. In a way she is like a ghost, but she has more freedom than that. Her body is still alive so she's not completely trapped, and there's no reason why her soul must tread the footsteps of her body. There is a chance that the Silent Brothers will be able to recombine her body and soul, but until then she is incredibly vulnerable. Any wandering soul would, in theory, be able to inhabit her body. All I can do for now though, is set up some wards to stop that happening. I've also managed to stop the spread of demon poison in her blood. I'm afraid that all we can do now is wait."

"Can you see her?" Isabelle murmured, her voice a squeak. Isabelle, who was usually strong. Isabelle, who wouldn't ever cry. Isabelle, overcome with grief, missing Simon and worried sick about Clary. "I mean… can you contact her?"

His voice was quiet when he responded, his eyes dull as he looked into her face and took a sip of water from the cup on the bedside table. "I can sense when she is close… But no. I can't see her. We can contact her, when she's around… but there's no way for her to contact us. She's… here, right now. She can hear everything we're saying, of course…" He closes his eyes, shakes his head and gets to his feet. "At least two of you must stay with her at all times- her body that is. I suggest you set up some sort of rota between you so that between the three of you, you have an around-the-clock guard. I'll go contact the Silent Brothers and see if there's anything they can do…"

Without looking back he stepped through the curtains, letting them fall shut behind him. Clary's ears followed his footsteps as he marched away between the rows of beds and out through the door. Alec clenched and unclenched his fists at his sides and shook his hair viciously out of his eyes. "You two stay here," He growled at Jace and Isabelle, then stalked out after Magnus, his mind foggy with anger.

"Magnus Bane!" Alec shouted after his boyfriend as he stormed down the corridor of the institute. Despite everything, Alec knew Magnus wanted him to follow- else he would have just used a portal to get to the entrance to the Silent City.

"Alexander Lightwood!" Magnus imitated in return, mirroring Alec's hurt tone with one of sheer sarcasm. "What do _you_ want?"

Alec shook his head incredulously, biting his lip. "I want you to stop acting like this… Why this sudden change… why…?"

Magnus crossed his arms and bent one of his knees out to the side, pointing at Alec with an outstretched finger. His cat-eyes gleamed green and his skin seemed to sparkle with rage as he answered him. "You know what Alec? It's over. I know about this 'deal' you were going to make with Camille- she told me, you know? I was ready to do it myself- that's why I wanted the White Book- but my fate is not yours to decide, not now, not ever. You do not get to make my choices for me! You didn't even consult me about it…"

"Magnus…"

"No, Alec. I don't want to hear it. I'm sick of being at your beck and call, being your friends' pet warlock. I'm tired of being someone you run to for help then forget about in the blink of an eye. I am immortal, and you expect me to never have been with anyone before now. And that I am willing to give up my immortality to grow old and then even die with you- it's not enough is it? Go to Jace and Isabelle, they need you… whereas I… I'm sorry." He turned his back on Alec's watery blue eyes, clicked his fingers and vanished in a puff of sandalwood-smoke.

Angry and broken, Alec stormed in the direction Magnus had been standing. As he strode forwards he ripped the dark blue scarf from around his neck, throwing it onto the shining marble floor. He took a deep breath of the rich scent the warlock had left behind, and then strode through the dark oak doors and into the cool winter sun. _I know what I have to do. I have to kill Camille._


	4. Chapter 3

Alec swung back into the infirmary, his cheeks pink with cold. Isabelle was neglecting her duties and playing Temple Run on her iPhone, while Jace sat completely still, his hand gently cupped around Clary's and his eyes intently fixed upon her still face. "Oh thank the Angel you're back, its nuts sitting here with him- he's not said anything all morning and frankly it's getting a little boring. Look, I've unlocked all the characters…" Frowning, Alex shook his head and waved her away, flopping down on the space at the end of the bed and shoving his hands into his pockets.

His gaze secured on the marble floor, Alec cleared his throat and began to speak, his voice hoarse and cracked from all the screaming he'd done outside. "I… Magnus and I… we broke up. He said he's tired of being your pet warlock. He's in no doubt that he loves me… but he's tired of everything that's happened." _And the fact I wanted to strip him of his immortality without consulting him_. Alec pushed the thought from the front of his mind and took a deep breath as Isabelle sunk onto the bed beside him, wrapping her arm around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder.

"He's been under a lot of stress- you both have. Maybe he just needs some time on his own. He's done a lot for you and… these past few weeks you've not exactly been thankful." He snapped his head up, rage sparking in his eyes. "I don't mean that you haven't been at all… I just think Magnus doesn't feel particularly appreciated…" Alec shook his head, reluctantly telling Isabelle the whole story.

Clary listened with intrigue, unafraid to breach personal barriers now that they couldn't really see her. She moved from sympathetic to shocked and then angry- if Magnus was gone, who would help her regain her body? She very well couldn't go to the Silent Brothers herself; and Jace…

Jace remained at the side of her body, her hand clutched in his while he traced the Voyance rune on the back of her hand with his thumb. Her first permanent rune, that Jace himself had inscribed upon her. His golden eyes were dark, not with lust but rather with loss. Of course, with Sebastian roaming the globe and wreaking havoc upon the world Jace had lost his 'other-half'. The connection between them still stood… but without their physical proximity Jace seemed almost empty. With her absence alongside Sebastian's, Clary imagined that his soul must be torn to shreds…

And yet here she was. Her entire being, somehow separated from her body with no apparent means of re-uniting the two. Simon was still stalking Sebastian, the sword his only means of defence against the demon boy. It was very likely of course that Simon would die, and Sebastian would manage to convert the Angel sword into an Infernal Device and his connection with Jace would never be severed. If that were to happen, Clary would have lost both her best friend and the love of her life, and that was a fact she could not bear to think about.

When Alec had finished retelling the grisly details of his breakup with Magnus- omitting the part about his desire to slaughter Camille- Isabelle stood up and brushed invisible specks of dirt from her blood-red sweater. "Well then. I've done my shift- you stay with Jace and Clary and I'll go find Magnus. If I can't find him or it appears that he's no longer willing to help us, then I'll go to the Silent Brothers myself. If I'm not back by this time tomorrow… you should probably trust them two together and come find me." She pulled her tight black skirt down slightly and checked that her seraph blades were still wedged into her boots, coiled the electrum whip around her wrist and ducked out from behind the heavy curtains.

Clary hovered at the corner of the cubicle, stuck between the urge to stay with her body but her curiosity in following Isabelle. As Isabelle's clicking footsteps melted away into the distance and the door to the infirmary shut with a resonate thud, she made her decision. Glancing back at her still body with a whisper of doubt echoing in her mind, she turned away and ran across the institute. Church was sat near the elevator, licking his ginger paw with his little pink tongue. He started when Clary ran towards him, jumping to his feet and arching his back as she skidded through the grill and into the elevator. Isabelle watched Church thoughtfully as she elevator began to move, then turned to the space beside her. "Clary…?"

Isabelle jumped when she looked up, and her eyes widened in shock and fear. "How… What…?" Clary turned slowly, looking at herself in the mirror for the first time. Her skin shone a translucent white, and her red hair appeared dotted with flakes of snow.

"Isabelle?" The other girl stared back blankly, but it was clear she was only able to see Clary. She watched her own reflection as she extended her arm, copying Clary's motion. Where their hands touched, Isabelle's skin turned to ice. She shivered, letting her arm drop to her side as the lift clunked to a stop.

"Stay with me." Clary gulped- not out of necessity but more out of habit, and nodded twice. A hint of a smile twitched Isabelle's lips, and they stepped out into the entrance hall.

The vampire scurried along the undergrowth, ducking low hanging branches and leaping over long and twisted tree roots with a light nimbilty possessed only by the undead- and perhaps, Simon thought, by Sebastian too. In a short time they were away from the sights, sounds and smells of the battlefield, and signs of human life had begun to materialise on the horizon. Simon could not tell whether the fighting had stopped or if they were now simply too far away, but for once he wasn't thinking about the trivial things. Simon Lewis knew of only one thing: that he needed to kill Sebastian.

But to what end? Well, killing Sebastian will the Angel sword would destroy all evil within him, leaving only the good behind. If there were more evil then good, then the boy would altogether be destroyed. And this deed must be completed with the Angel sword, Glorious, for any normal blade would also harm Sebastian's bonded partner, Jace. Simon had promised Clary that he'd never hurt her, but in killing Sebastian and by extension, Jace… that would truly damage her beyond repair.

Simon gasped to a halt, the sword getting heavier and heavier on his back. He'd given up somewhere along the line and ripped the bottom off his shirt, using the strip of fabric to create a kind of strap to sling the sword across his back without having to hold it. He closed his eyes for one moment in fatigue then opened them again almost instantly. Sebastian, inhuman as he was, had finally drawn to a stop. They were standing in an empty alleyway in Ireland, not too far from the Seventh Site but far enough. The cobbled road pressed into Simon's sore feet without mercy as Sebastian shook his sweaty white hair out of his eyes. He whipped his stele from his pocket and held the infernal cup in his outstretched arm, the dark blood mixture still sloshing within. He slid the stele into the cup, immersing the glowing white stick in the blackened concoction, bringing it out dripping dark red onto his pale hands. He shook the blood off to one side and gave the stele a quick wipe on the edge of his tunic, then started to draw a fiery rune in mid-air.

A glimmering portal materialised before him, and Simon noticed with very little surprise that it was glowing red instead of silver, casting sinister shadows across Sebastian's pale skin. As he gazed into its depths, the doorway shimmered and an image of another dark alleyway appeared, into which the demon boy stepped. The moment he had passed the boundary the portal began to dull and shrink, and Simon had to sprint with all his might to reach it before it closed. In a move Indiana Jones would have been proud of, he slid along the blackened cobbles and through the gaping mouth of the portal, scraping his knees on the rough tarmac beyond as he ground to a halt.


	5. Chapter 4

"Magnus!?" Isabelle pressed her finger firmly on the buzzer, shouting up the side of the building as she had done the first time they had met. Sighing in frustration, she kicked the door and headed around the side of the building, looking up at the row of windows at the top of the building that she knew led into Magnus' apartment. _I know what to do_, Clary thought, covering Isabelle's hand with hers. When the cold shock didn't stop her, Clary stepped forward and examined the glass of the window in front of them. _I hope this works_. She leant forward and breathed on the glass, like one might do in winter to steam up the window. However instead of misting the glass, Clary's breath appeared to freeze, creating the same effect only colder.

Grinning like a five-year-old, Clary used a finger to trace two words in the whitened patch of glass. I'll go. Isabelle saw the message and grinned. "Thanks Clary. Who ever knew this would come in handy, huh?" Overjoyed at finding a way to communicate, Clary misted up another panel of glass and drew a childish smiley-face as a form of agreement. She turned her back on Isabelle and stepped back around the corner, walking through the glass door on the front of the building and running up the stairs to Magnus' penthouse apartment.

When she stepped through his door, she was overcome by the sudden mess of the living room. One of the sofas was overturned, the rug rumpled and the curtains pulled from their rail. Takeaway boxes sat stacked on the dining room table. Clary turned as the buzzer sounded again, and wished there was some way she could press the button and let Isabelle come up. She tried regardless, but her hand went straight through the wall. "Clary…" Magnus emerged from the master bedroom, his usually spiked hair ruffled and matted to his head, a fuzzy stubble already collecting itself on his chin. He rubbed his eyes then withdrew a pair of glasses from his pocket, resting them on his ears. "Spectrecles, huh? Get it? Spectre?" Laughing to himself, he shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. "What can I do for you? I'm trying my best, Clary."

She shook her head at him and walked up to the doorway of the master bedroom, slipping inside and examining what his actions had caused the rest of the apartment to look like. Magnus' bedroom looked exactly how Clary would have imagined it- sparkling blue satin sheets on the bed and a lava lamp plugged in on his bedside table. Bundles of clothes lay strewn across one side of the bed, a collection of jeans and long-sleeved shirts that Clary recognised to be Alec's. The door creaked as Magnus pushed it open, stepping into the room and shaking his head. "You got me. I'm not coping… as well as I'd hope." Clary shook her head, mouthing to him. _You could just take him back_. But she knew he couldn't, not after what Alec had contemplated doing. He stood aside, holding the door open and signifying that she should leave. "I've contacted the Silent Brothers. As it happens they think it might help if you pay them a visit. Isabelle's downstairs, isn't she?" Clary nodded, stepping back into the living room and walking resignedly back to the front door of his apartment. "And I assume you were going to go anyway, so _go_. And Clary? Even though it's within your power, I don't exactly appreciate you just barging in here like this… be careful."

Clary nodded, biting her lip. _Yeah, like that's going to happen_. She raised a hand in solemn farewell, and sprinted back down the stairs, taking them two at a time. She reached the bottom and emerged from the wall next to Isabelle, hurriedly writing on the glass next to her head and poking her shoulders and knees until she realised Clary had returned. "So… to the Silent City, then?" Clary drew another smile on the window, then erased her message and touched Isabelle's shoulder- a motion now that they both understood as '_go_'. As they walked, Isabelle hugged her chest and kicked at lone receipts and coke cans lying in the street. "I just don't understand why I could see you in the mirror at the institute… and why you can write on windows but you can't really touch anyone or anything…"

Clary opened her mouth to respond but closed it again abruptly- not for the fact that Isabelle wouldn't hear her, but because they had reached the gates to the Silent City. The Silent City had many entrances across the world, and to Clary seemed to be based under New York City. This of course wasn't true, and the entrance served as a kind of portal to take you to the actual Silent City deep underneath Idris. The City, as well as housing the Silent Brothers and the prison where Jace had spent a few nights a couple of months back, served as the Nephilim Graveyard. This was where they burnt the dead, and transformed the ashes into pillars of shining white stone.

"I really don't get it, but… Clary!" The second they had passed through the portal, Clary had become visible- and not in the misty white way that she had done in the lift. She looked down at herself and for the first time in two days saw actual colour, not the washed out white of translucence and semi-existence. She extended her arm, placing her hand atop the closest structure. The white arch of the gravestone was cool like marble, and no matter how hard she tried Clary's hand could not pass through it.

"Isabelle?" She croaked, turning to face the other girl. Never more happy to see Clary in her life, Isabelle shrieked and lunged for her, wrapping her arms around Clary's shoulders.

"Oh my god… you're actually here! You're back!" She jumped up and down, a huge smile plastered on her lips, but Clary shook her head.

"My body's still in the institute. I can feel it. You know how Alec and Jace are _parabatai_, and they feel something when the other is missing… I feel like that. Like there's a part of me missing. Only it's strong, like…" She looked around her, hearing the whispering of many souls just like herself. "Isabelle… this is the land of the dead."

They looked out together over the familiar landscape. The white tombstones stretched as far as the eye could see, the dusty ground coming up in plumes as wandering spirits kicked up the dirt. "But Clary, you're not dead." Isabelle put her hand on Clary's arm again, as if to reassert her point.

"No, but if you don't pass on to heaven or hell and you end up in purgatory… well the shadowhunters end up here, don't they? So while I'm not dead, the fact that… that I'm just a soul, and I just stepped in to purgatory… it must count for something, right?" Isabelle stared back, open mouthed. The red-head had only been a shadowhunter for a few months and already she could pick out things about their culture that Isabelle sometimes forgot.

_Clarissa Fray. Isabelle Lightwood. Why do you enter our realm today? _Clary looked up into the shadowed face of the cloaked figure that had suddenly appeared before them. Brother Zachariah. "I… At the battle against Sebastian the other day, I was hit with a demon blade that, somehow, managed to split my soul from my body." And yet you stand before me. "Well, yes. I'm my soul, you see, and my body is…" _Back at the institute. Calm, Clarissa. We've been expecting you. The warlock Bane made us fully aware of your case. Come, we shall see what we can do._


	6. Chapter 5

Alec rested his head on his hand, closing his eyes for just one second. The soft sound of Clary beside him, slowly breathing in and out, slowed his own breathing and calmed him down. Jace shuffled on his chair, stretching out his legs and then returning to the stance he had held for the past several hours. Alec knew he had to uphold Magnus' last request, but all of a sudden his eyes felt so heavy, and no matter how hard he tried he could not force them open. His breathing slowed further, his eyes sealing themselves shut from the world as he slid forward, slumping over the edge of the chair with his hand dangling onto the floor.

Jace's head snapped up as soon as Alec was asleep, Sebastian's voice echoing in his brain. _Listen, snotface. I'm being followed, I'm sure of it. I'm not going to reach Lilith while this asshole is on my tail and if he can catch up with me, I don't think he's a force to fight with. She's still weak, hiding out and gaining power… but she was relying on me. She needs a body. I know Amatis did her job right- you won't shut up about it. Anything you know, I know, and anything I know, Lilith knows. You'd do well not to stand in her way, got it?_

_Yes Sebastian. _Jace's voice was monotonous even in his mind as he replied to his 'master'. Lilith, the greater demon who controlled them both, was going to take over Clary's body. Something in Jace's mind screamed out that she couldn't do that, that he shouldn't let her… but then a warm feeling washed over him like an incoming tide, stealing away the criminal thoughts. _Yes_, Jace thought, _Sebastian is right. This is for the best, for everyone._

Clary took a seat in the room with the starred floor, staring up at the line of Silent Brothers sitting along the long table on the raised platform before her. The amount of times she'd been here seemed uncountable, yet she knew in her heart that this would not be the last time she would sit before the Brothers. One by one they reached into her head, pulling apart her mind with theirs in the hopes of finding an answer. When none came, they shook their heads in dismay.

_It is only as Warlock Bane has told us. We will search our library in hopes of finding an answer, but it seems that you cannot enter your body while the wards Bane set up are still in place. Of course these wards exist to protect your body from being inhabited by any wandering soul- usually a living body without a soul will merely absorb whichever soul is closest, but it seems that the dagger with which you were wounded carried an enchantment which marked you as somebody else's target. While this mark stands, you cannot access your body. The person- or demon- for which you were marked, is sure to attack. Until then the wards must remain_.

Clary shook her head, disbelief clouding her eyes. She couldn't go back. She was going to be stuck like this, for all eternity. "No… please. There must be something you can do…"

_You will have noticed that while you exist in our territory, you are more… solid, so to speak. You may feel free to remain here- though the only beds are in the prisons- until we come to a solution. However… for our sakes as well as your own, visitors would be strictly forbidden. It would not do anyone well to cause a distraction from our work._

"So I can actually communicate while I'm here… I can talk and breathe and touch things- hell I could punch Iz in the face if I wanted to! But if I stay, I won't be able to see anyone anyway?"

_It may be less painful than to watch them continue to suffer with your loss._

"But they know I'm still alive. Isabelle will back me up, won't you? I can write- on windows… and Iz could see me in the mirror in the elevator…"

_It is to our belief that the mirror in the Institute has a kind of stronger Voyance rune carved into its back, allowing anyone to look in to see clearly anything that may be glamoured or hidden- or in your case, semi-corporeal._

Clary shook her head again, her mouth falling open. "I'm going back… I can't just leave them."

_Very well, but while you are not here your wellbeing is not of our utmost worry and we may, on occasion, decline to dedicate ourselves to your case. While you are here, you are priority, but if you choose to leave then it may take twice, perhaps three times as long to find a solution._

"That's a chance I'm willing to take."

However by the time the next day had come around, the Silent Brothers had arrived at the institute with an answer for Clary. Alec and Isabelle stepped outside the room while the crowd of brothers formed a semi-circle around the bed- but Jace, being Jace, had refused to leave. Brother Zachariah, after trying his hardest to remove Jace from their presence, eventually gave in and let him stay on the condition that he didn't interrupt, so he was now sat perfectly still on the chair beside Clary's bed, her hand curled in his lap.

_Oh Angel Ambriel, release from this girl your wards of protection so that her spirit may once again enter her body._ The Silent Brothers chanted in unison, their voices harmonising to form a deep hum in Clary's head. _Please, release the entrapment which you hold upon her, so that her soul may once again thrive._ _Suscitabo tibi imponere eu dimittere iura tenes._

Clary waited, closing her eyes in anticipation. Nothing changed within her; no new connection appeared to have been forged. She opened her eyes and stared open mouthed as her eyes twitched and her hands clenched atop the sheets. Her nose wrinkled and her eyes opened, flashing black at first before turning back to their familiar shade of green. She smiled, sitting up against the pillow then thrusting herself into Jace's open arms. Clary stood up in shock, stumbling back towards the curtains. From under his hood, Brother Zachariah's eyes burnt with anger.

"Oh Jace! I'm so glad to see you!" The words that left her mouth used her voice, had been thought up using her brain… but were not her words. _That's right, Little Miss Sunshine. It's me. I'm back and better than ever!_

Clary seethed, her head reeling with the unfairness of it all. _It's my body, Lilith. Find your own host._

_Oh but I have… and she's right here. I don't know how you deal with being so short. Gosh it's ghastly being this… small! I suppose I could use this weakness to my advantage, though. Yes. Nobody expects the midget to be the evil one…_ Her tongue flickered between her lips, fast and snakelike. Clary's stomach heaved, but there was nothing to throw up. Her last chance of getting back into her body… was gone.

Feeling hopeless to her very core, Clary jumped to her feet and ran from the infirmary, intending on finding a way to contact Alec and Isabelle quickly and tell them what happened. The two siblings just so happened to be standing just outside the door to the infirmary, but there was neither glass nor the magic mirror from the lift waiting for her to use.

"Iz… I'm just going to pop into town. I've got something I just remembered is really important." Alec said, stepping back from the doors to the infirmary. "I'll be back… soon." He took another step, then turned and ran down the corridor while Isabelle stared after him, perplexed. Shaking her head, she muttered a collection of colourful curses under her breath and pushed open the infirmary door with her shoulder, stepping inside.

Clary watched in horror as Isabelle grinned and ran up the infirmary, wrapping her arms around Lilith and embracing her like an old friend. Shivering, Clary watched the door swing shut and ran across the institute to the lift. Stepping inside, she shook out her hands and traced her finger along the edge of one of the mirrored walls, cutting a slice out of her finger with the angelic-powered glass. "Clary?" Alec blinked and looked into the mirror, finally seeing her. "But I thought… You just… Clary?" Clary bit her lip and shook her head, wishing that both she and Alec knew sign language. Instead she was left with the option of a desperate game of Pictionary as the lift plummeted downwards.

Breathing on the glass, Clary drew a long, thin box on the mirror. Atop this box she drew four stick figures. The first one was lying down, and she pointed to herself. The second one was standing up, and she pointed to Alec. The third figure was standing beside Alec, and Clary raised her fingers to her mouth and curled them to imitate fangs- Simon. The last figure was floating above the box, and had wiggly lines protruding from her eyes. Clary pointed to this last figure with brutal insistence, until Alec's eyes widened in understanding. "Lilith?" She nodded just as the lift ground to a halt, and watched as Alec stood perfectly still, torn between running back upstairs and continuing his mission.

"Look, Clary… I'm really sorry. There's nothing I can do right now… so I'm going to go do this other thing and then I'll go see the Silent Brothers, tell them what's up and get their help… Wait- they're still up there. They should have noticed." He was still looking in the mirror, and though her image had now faded he could still just about see as Clary shook her head. "Well then."

She let her head drop in dismay as Alec turned away from her and ran down the aisle of the church, sprinting out into the New York street as delicate flakes of white began to fall from the sky. Clary stepped from the church and out into the road, beginning the walk across Manhattan to Magnus' apartment. _I don't care if you told me to leave you alone, or that you can't do anything to help me. I need answers, and now._


	7. Chapter 6

The noise in his ears died down as Alec stepped into the familiar underground tunnel, scurrying along the tracks alongside the families of rats that shared Camille's haunt. He withdrew his witchlight stones from his pocket as two gleaming spotlights appeared down the tunnel, the tracks whining with the train's approach. Shadowhunters were tough, but even Alec knew he wouldn't survive this one. He ran faster, towards the lights, and at the very last minute he leapt sideways and rolled onto the white tiles of the platform. The empty train brought with it a rush of wind that threatened to pull him back onto the tracks, but he kept his head pressed to the tiles until it had passed. As the lights dimmed and the train vanished into the distance, Alec raised his witchlight into the air. His heart beat with a mixture of fear and adrenaline, anticipation welling up in his lungs. Something felt odd, a strange scent wafting through the air that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Hearing an odd rustle, Alec jerked his head upright and jumped to his feet, his witchlight glowing bright white above his head. A high-pitched laugh sounded from the shadow of the stairwell on the far side, and from the darkness stepped Maureen. Maureen was the 13-year-old fangirl of Simon's band, but Lilith's 'crew' had captured and killed her, transforming her into a vampire who somehow ended up doing Camillie's bidding. "Where is she?" Alec asked, his free hand grasping the seraph blade in his weapons belt and sliding it from its pace. "Where's Camille?"

"Oh, Alec. Poor, innocent Alec. Can't you see?" Maureen stepped forward so that her entire body was bathed in his witchlight. Now Alec could see- her sparkly pink t-shirt was stained down the front with fresh blood, which smudged her nose and dripped down her chin. Her fangs were still out, pressing into the skin of her lips. "I've been a very naughty girl." She ran her fingers through her hair, streaking red through the bright white blonde. "I'm sorry to say that I beat you to the post. I killed her- I killed Camille!" The girl laughed, and her sharp cackles echoed down the tunnel.

"Well then." Alec said, stepped forward and naming his blade 'Castiel'. "I came out tonight to do two things- Number 1 was to kill a vampire, and number 2 was to grab a bite to eat at Taki's. And seeing as I just lost my appetite…" Finally being able to use some of Jace's wit filled Alec with a joyful warmth. He swung forward with the glowing blade, slashing a gash across Maureen's t-shirt without leaving a scratch on the skin beneath.

"Ouch." She grinned, flashing her bloody teeth at him. "You know I just ate… but that was only the appetiser. Why don't you stay for dinner?"

Clary stepped through the glass doors that formed the entranceway to Magnus' building and ran up the stairs, taking the steps two at a time. She reached the top and flew straight into Magnus' apartment, gasping at the sight of too many empty takeaway cartons for the days that had gone by. The warlock himself was sprawled on the sofa, one hand dragging on the white carpet and the other slung over the back of the seat. Clary looked around in desperation, trying to figure out a way to wake him- but to no avail. Instead she flopped down on the opposite sofa, her head reeling. _No one can help you now, little girl_. She shook her head, trying to clear Lilith's voice from her head.

_If Lilith can access my mind, see what I'm thinking_, She thought, rubbing her temples, _then maybe it works the other way_. Clary blocked out everything around her, ignoring Magnus' snoring and trying to forget about the dust and the takeaway cartons that played on the back of her mind. She groped around in the darkness, finding wisps of things that almost made sense. Finally she saw the light, a tiny ball in the midst of her mind. She grabbed at it, holding it tight as it expanded- and finally she could see.

_Mistress, has your plan come together?_

Yes my child. I have inhabited the body of the one you call Clary. Terribly small, but it will have to do.

Excellent. Can I dispose of the vampire yet? He's been on my trail forever.

No, Sebastian. Not yet. I want the pleasure. I want to see the light leave his eyes as the girl he loves drives a stake through his heart. Yes. I think that would suffice.

The prickles of a location tickled the edges of her mind. She could see in the dimness, vague shapes of doorways and outlines of windows. It wasn't enough, not by far… She pressed harder, pushing herself further and further into Lilith's thoughts. Her mind burned, her head pounding as she struggled to form a picture from the shapes. Finally they came together, the shadows merging to form buildings, a street familiar yet not, an image through Lilith's mind of what Sebastian could see.

_We're all connected_, Clary realised with a jolt. She withdrew from Lilith's mind, jumping to her feet and stumbling forwards. Magnus woke with a start, his spectrecles balanced awkwardly on the end of his nose. He pushed them up and his eyes widened in rage as he spotted Clary, standing awkwardly with wide eyes in the middle of his living room.

Clary scurried over to the window and pulled aside Magnus' curtains, pulling up the blind so that she could see out into the streetlamp lit street. She opened her mouth and breathed onto the glass, misting it and writing Lilith's name with her fingers. Clary misted the pane next to this one and drew something else, a rune. She stepped back in shock as a rippling doorway appeared in the wall, a portal. "So not only are you the only shadowhunter with the power to create runes, and to just create a portal at will- but you can do all this without a stele now?" Clary shrugged in response, then stepped through the doorway and into the void.

Magnus looked over to see what she had written, and shook his head in worry. Of course- Lilith knew a fair amount about possessing bodies, but she needed a link… his head snapped up, his eyes wide with understanding. _Jace._


	8. Chapter 7

"Well well well. Mr Lightwood." Alec whipped his head around, his witchlight clutched in his raised hand. The office was empty, Camille's chaise-lounge overturned with a bottle of wine lying smashed beside it. Something shifted in the shadows and Alec reached to his side, wrapping his ice-cold fingers around a seraph blade as a figure stepped into the light. Something in the back of his mind recognised the girl- Maureen, from Simon's gigs. She was a vampire now, of course. And as he recalled, had been enlisted to do Camille's bidding. "Where's your mistress?" He snarled, raising the blade and muttering the name 'Raziell' under his breath as the white metal began to glow. "Where's Camille?"

"Oh, Camille's not my mistress. She never was, not really. Oh no." Maureen laughed, sending a shiver up Alec's spine. "No! No, she wasn't my mistress. Whatever gave you that notion?" Alec shook his head and adjusted his stance, shuffling his feet a little further apart. "Camillie's dead, Nephilim. Dead. Gone." He widened his eyes in surprise, looking again at the wine spill on the floor. He moved his witchlight closer and saw that Maureen was indeed right, and that the ancient blonde-haired vampire lay unmoving behind the chaise-lounge, the red stain he'd thought was wine spreading across the white tiles. "And unless you tell me why you're here, Shadowhunter, I think you'll be next."

Alec slashed forward with his blade, the burning white light flaring up as he thrust it towards the girl. Her fangs emerged and she twisted away from him, snarling. In a flash she was on him, pinning him to the ground with her arms. He twisted under her, but her strength was too much for him- her rock-solid arms pushed his own into the tiles with such force that the ceramic threatened to crack beneath them. She leaned in close, inhaling deeply and flashing her fangs in a deadly-looking grin. "Precious Lightwood, defeated in a mere few seconds by a little girl." She taunted him as he spat up at her face, his features distorting with pain.

"Get off me you little bitch." He hissed, kicking his legs against the tiles. She was leaning over him again, her blood-soaked hair falling over his face and dripping spots onto the floor around him.

"Oh, mind your language Shadowhunter. I'm only a little girl, after all." She laughed violently, removing one arm from Alec's wrist and pressing it against his throat, pushing his head down into the tiles. "I killed Camille with my bare hands, and you think I can't be stopped by a weak little Nephilim like yourself?" She spat to the side, grinning, and licked her fangs.

Alec's vision became spotted with black dots as she pushed herself down harder, cutting off his air supply. His head spinning, he swung with his free arm- his hand still clutching his witchlight- and hit her in the shoulder. She didn't flinch, but moved her whole body so she could hold down both his arms with just her knees. The bones crackled under her weight and Alec screamed out in pain- or at least, tried to. The gasp escaped his lips, his lungs aching as his last mouthful of air vanished. He strained to lift his head off the floor and Maureen slammed it back down, the tiles cracking under his skull. A warm sensation spread out underneath him, soaking into his hair. Once more he lifted his head and Maureen moved her arm to slam it down again, but this time he managed to grab her wrist and pull it down towards him.

He bit down on her flesh and heard her scream out as cold, acidic blood spilled into his mouth. It pooled under his tongue as she ripped away from him and kicked him in the side, winding him and making him roll onto his front to gasp for breath. Enraged, Maureen kicked him again and again, then swirled around and stormed from the office.

Alec gasped for breath, spitting the blood from his mouth with a dull feeling in his stomach. _Ingestion of vampire blood can cause a change within 24 hours. There is less chance of a change occurring from ingestion than being directly infected through the blood, though preventative methods should still be taken._ The words from the Codex echoed in his mind, his head reeling as he tried to catch his breath. What were the methods? To sit in a field full of garlic until the sun comes up? To stab yourself through the heart with a stake just in case? He leaned back on his feet and rubbed his raw throat as he wracked his brains for an answer, but none came. _Shit_. He thought, staggering upright and leaning against the wall, his head pounding in his ears as he looked down at the tiles under his feet, red and slippery with his blood and Camille's. _Shit_.

Clary rolled across the damp tarmac and slammed to a stop against a cold brick wall. It was wet with something- rain or something more sinister, she couldn't tell- that immediately sent icy chills through her body. She pushed herself to her feet and looked around. "Simon?" She hissed, before remembering that it would probably do no good. Muttering words rather unfit for a lady of her age, Clary stormed down the alleyway towards the fluorescent glow of the orange streetlight at the end. Flecks of water dispersed the colour down the misty street beyond, illuminating a dark figure in the fog. She stepped forwards, following the mysterious boy down a long cobbled street with houses lining either side. Cars lined both pavements, and the boy walked confidently down the road between the two rows. Out of the corner of her eye Clary spotted a pale flash, but it was gone again in an instant. It reappeared several metres away, keeping close pace with the boy ahead of her. She picked up her speed as the boy turned a corner, heading down another alleyway and slipping into a doorway about halfway down. The pale flash- another boy- met the door the same second as Clary, and cursed under his breath.

Simon! Clary thought, her heart leaping. And when she looked, it was indeed him. His eyes were dark with hunger and his pale skin blotched and bruised-looking. He shook as he stood next to the door in his black clothes, the angel sword slung unceremoniously over his shoulder. His fangs scratched his lips nervously, and the gold of the leafy faerie ring still glinted on his finger. Clary longed for her own ring- perhaps if she had been wearing it at the battle she'd still have it now, would still be able to talk to someone in the world of the living without desperately clawing at panes of glass and hoping they understood. She stretched out a hand and held onto the soft gold ring with her fingers, tracing the lines with the fingernail or her index finger. _Simon_.

_Clary?_ Simon whipped his head around from where he had been staring at the door, and looked straight into Clary's face. Her hand slipped from the faerie ring and her image flickered before she managed to grab hold of his hand again.

_Shit. Simon? You can hear me?_

_Clary! You're… _

_Look, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. What are you doing here?_

_Clary you're not fine. I can see you. You're a freaking ghost, so you're obviously not fine. You're not… dead, are you?_

_What? No, just… separated I guess. Listen, that knife was enchanted with some sort of dark magic. It split my soul from my body, so I'm here but my body's back in New York. Where is 'here' anyway? No, it's not important. My body… I can't get back in there. Someone else got in there before I did._ She shrugged, as though this was just something that happened all the time.

_Who?_

_I…_

_Clary, who is in your body? _Simon's face was white, his eyes wide and glistening with concern. His hand was outstretched as if to take her in his arms and keep her safe.

_… Lilith. I think Jace was her connection to me… he was holding my hand, and I think that because of that physical contact she just managed to jump right into me when the Silent Brothers released the protection. One of them- brother Zachariah- he noticed something was not right but the other brothers either didn't notice or didn't care. I don't know, that's not the important bit. My point is she's pretending to be me. She's got shadowhunter blood now- my blood- so she can get in and out of the institute whenever she likes and bring or take whoever she wants with her. Alec, Isabelle, Jace… they're all in danger. You have to help me, Simon._

_Clary… I wish I could but… I'm hunting down Sebastian. He started all this, and I'm going to end it._

_Simon! I… you don't have the Mark anymore… you could die- you could have died already if he noticed you were following him…_

_But I haven't, have I? I'm being careful, okay. I just want to see what he's up to, then I'll corner him and take him out, and anyone he may have connections with. And then we'll go back to New York, and we'll… somehow, I promise, we'll get you home._

_Simon?_

_Yeah?_

_Thanks. Really._

_No problem, Clary. You know I'd do anything for you._

_I know. _She smiled, reluctant to let go of the ring.

_Clary, I have an idea. Can you- I mean- walk through doors and stuff? _Clary nodded, already guessing his plan.

_I'll do it, but it'll cost you._

_Oh yeah, what's that?_

_I'll let you know._ She winked, and let go of his hand. The (relative) warmth returned to Simon's fingers as Clary stepped forward, and melted away through the black wood of the door.


	9. Chapter 8

_Jace pressed his face to the door, looking into Clary's room through the crack in the wood. It was dark inside, but he could just make out her shape against the window, her red hair flowing in the winter breeze. Something deep inside him felt wrong, like someone had thrust their fist into his stomach and was twisting his insides with all their might. He knew what it was, of course. Jace- the old Jace, trying to tell him something. The angel boy trying to fight past the demon again, like that time in Paris when he'd been able to explain everything to Clary… He shook his head, dispelling the thoughts that told him this was the right thing._

_He pushed the door open, sliding his body through the gap and into the room. It was still plain, the bed a tangle of sheets and a few items of clothing on the floor, but was still just another room in the institute. The only hint of a personal touch was found on the bedside table, where a photograph of Clary and himself sat perched precariously atop her sketchbook and box of pencils._

_"Clary?" Jace ran his fingers shyly through his hair, pushing it back off his face. The moonlight bounced off his cheekbones as he stepped into the light, coming up behind her and placing his hand gently on her shoulder. She turned to face him, her fiery curls falling gracefully down her back and swaying back and to with her movements. _

_"Jace." Her voice was a murmur, almost a moan. The whisper was gentle yet desperate, begging for his attention. He leaned forward to press his lips against hers, to answer her call for affection with an action he so really wanted. His eyes flickered to take in every detail of her face- her heart-shaped lips and the line of freckles across her nose, and her eyes…_

He screamed, bolting upright. He was back in his own room in the institute, scrupulously tidy with lines of weapons and trinkets shelved along the wall. A stack of books sat on his bedside table, itching to be read. Swinging his feet out from under his heavy winter quilt, he padded across his room and to the bathroom, leaning for a moment against the wall to regain his composure.

Looking in the mirror, he shook out his hair and splashed icy cold water into his face, rubbing his skin raw with a white towel as he tried to wake himself up. His nose and cheeks were burning with the beginning of a cold, and huge black circles rounded his eyes. He closed them, and turned away from his reflection, stepping back into his bedroom and flicking the light switch, bathing the room in darkness.

_It was just a dream_. This was what he told himself as he collapsed back onto the bed, picking up the top book on the pile and turning his lamp on at the wall. _Just a dream_.

The door to his room creaked open and he looked up from the pages of _The Shadowhunter Codex_, seeing her standing in his doorway. Clary- with her twisting curls of ginger hair and her pale, freckled skin. She stepped into his room and the light from his lamp bathed her, illuminating her entire body. His gaze travelled upwards tentatively, afraid. It rested on her face- her lips and her nose, her cheeks and her eyes- her eyes.

For one second they were normal, their usual bright emerald green. However even as Jace watched, she transformed into the Clary of his dreams. Her eyes flashed black and he saw himself reflected in their endless pits, alone in the blackness. His eyes rolled backwards and he fell down onto the bed, the book falling open on the floor.

"Magnus! Magnus let me in!" Alec pounded at the door to the apartment, desperately patting his pockets in case he still had his key. "Please!" He screamed, his voice now hoarse. "It's important."

Magnus sat on the white leather sofa with his arms resting on his knees, his hands linked between his legs. His feet sat at right angles, and his usually spikey hair was dull and flat. He lacked his usual spark, and his tanned skin didn't glimmer as it usually did, as he listened to his ex-boyfriend slam his fists desperately into the wood. A familiar scratching sound filled his ears as Alec tried to open the door with his stele, but Magnus knew it would do no good. Finally, bearing the agony in the boy's voice any longer, he rose to his feet and strode across the room, kicking an empty takeaway box into the bathroom as he went.

"What do you want, Nephilim?" He spat, before fully taking in the boy's appearance. He was pale, his clothes spattered with blood- his own or someone else's, Magnus couldn't tell. "Alec?" He whispered, putting his hand out to hold the shoulder of the swaying boy. His teeth were coated with blood, his eyes drifting slowly shut.

"Camille… she's dead. Maureen… bit… I bit…" He collapsed, falling limply into Magnus' arms. The warlock sighed inwardly and lifted him up, kicking the door shut with his foot as he carried Alec across his apartment.

"Alec? Honey? Come on… Tell me what happened." He stroked the boy's black hair as he lay sprawled on the double bed they had once shared. Alec's eyes were shut, his eyelids jittering feverishly. His mouth was open, a trickle of bloody drool tracing a path across his cheek and onto the sheets. "_Please_?" Magnus closed his eyes against the pain. Camille… surely the boy could not be correct. Who would dare? He stretched out his hand and took hold of Alec's fingers with his own, rubbing them gently with a damp cloth to remove the blood. "I don't know what kind of mess you've got yourself into this time, and I'm not sure if I can get you out of it… If I can bring myself to help you, after all you've _done…_" He shook his head, gnawing on his bottom lip as he rubbed the cloth across Alec's face. "_Dumb mortals."_

Clary stepped through the black painted door and into a dingy room on the other side, dimly lit by an uncovered lightbulb swinging from the low ceiling. As she stood, a piercing noise filled her ears, causing her to press her hands over them and sink down to the floor again. Muffled voices shouted from upstairs and footsteps began to patter down towards her- a gang of hulking men with red runes scrawled across their skin, their faces twisted with grim malice. They stood aside as Sebastian swaggered down the steps right to the bottom, and stood in the tiny square hallway.

"Intruder alert, sir."

"Well it's playing up, obviously. There's nobody here." His voice echoed with pretentious loathing and an imitation English accent as he turned on his heel and waved the men back upstairs, clapping his hands with impatience. "Come, we have business to discuss." He cast a furtive glance back at the empty hallway and climbed the steep staircase once more. Clary stumbled to her feet and tripped up the wooden hill after him, gripping each stair so that she was half running, half crawling.

They emerged in a large room, with another dim light bulb hanging from the beamed ceiling. It was covered in spindly cobwebs hung with equally spindly spiders, bounding up and down on their silvery strings of web above a long, creaky table. The men had assembled themselves around the table, leaving a space for Sebastian at the head. The red runes on their skin glowed in the light, telling tales of misfortune and grief, of anger and revenge.

"Now, gentlemen. Where were we, before we were so rudely interrupted? Yes… of course. I'm being followed. I know, I could deal with the rat myself but there just hasn't been the time- I've been up and down the globe getting members of your league to join me in my quest for revenge. I know you'll be just as eager as the others but… so I know I can trust you- take care of the rat. I'm fairly sure he'll be waiting outside, so I'll tell you the deal. You help me, and I'll get you the one thing your heart most desires. With your help, I can take over the world. I can rule the Nephilim- using demons for blackmail. I've got a way to make you impervious to this curse- the demons won't touch you, will follow your every command… and those Nephilim who go against me, who refuse to drink from the cup… shall be slain. Simple stuff."

To Clary's disappointment, none of the men seemed dismayed by this prospect. Nay, they looked eager at the thought of the mass extermination of the demon-fighting force. They all seemed to nod in unison, and as Sebastian handed out a scroll of paper and a knife with which the men were required to cut themselves to seal the deal, Clary found herself backing from the room in horror. She tumbled down the stairs and out of the door, taking hold of Simon's hand and feeling the cool metal of the faerie ring against her.

_Simon?_

_Clary?_

_We have to go- now. There's this… this league, and they're joining Sebastian. They're some sort of shadowhunter outcasts… they want revenge on the Nephilim and they're willing to go to any lengths to get it- and Sebastian's only term is that they kill you. Soon._

Footsteps pounded down the stairs inside the building and Clary jumped, her eyes widening in panic.

_Run._


	10. Chapter 9

Alec's eyes snapped open and he jolted upright, his head pounding. He winced, fighting the urge to collapse back onto the bloody pillows, and glanced around the room. Yes… he'd come to Magnus for help… after fighting with… Maureen.

He looked down at his hands, examining the shredded skin and broken nails. He raised his hand and touched the back of his head, feeling a huge patch of dried and crusted blood, but no injury. He breathed a faint sigh of relief, then screamed out as agony gripped him. Magnus woke with a start and grabbed Alec before he rolled off the bed, pulling him towards his body and wrapping his arms tightly around his shoulder. "Shh, come on. Tell me." Alec gritted his teeth and brought his knees up to his chest, breathing heavily into Magnus' neck.

"Camille…" He gasped, his stomach reeling. "Maureen killed her- I went to find her to tell her the deal was off… to… to leave me alone and never come near me again. Maureen was there instead… she's mad… crazy. She attacked me… was going to kill me with her bare hands and… damn near succeeded. I…" His eyes opened wide, the pain momentarily pushed aside as dread took over. "She was choking me- and the only way to get her off was to… bite her…" He pushed his hair back, closing his eyes as Magnus looked him up and down. Alec swung his legs off the bed and got to his feet, his head still pounding slightly as he took a few steps towards the en-suite.

Magnus put his head in his hands and rubbed his temples, willing the knowledge to come back to him. So many years earlier- Will Herondale had done the same thing. That boy was terrible for trouble and now Alec was following in his footsteps- but what was the cure…? He got to his feet and padded across the carpet, following Alec to the bathroom where he was stood in the shower, letting a trickle of hot water cascade over his bare skin. Suddenly it clicked- the answer. He turned on his heel and strode from the bathroom, but not before calling over his shoulder at the boy whose life he was desperate to protect. "Stay in this apartment. Do not, under _any_ circumstances, leave. I'll be right back."

He grabbed a coat and scarf from the hallway, took the stairs two at a time and emerged on the busy streets of New York. Rain plummeted from the sky and splashed around his feet, icy water flooding his boots. The answer had been there all along- the only problem now was where to find it. As he strode with aimless purpose down the busy street, he collided with Raphael- the head of the Vampire clan. "Raphael! Listen- I don't have enough time to explain, but it's important. Where in heaven's name would the High Warlock of Brooklyn get his hands on some Holy Water?"

With Jace dealt with, Lilith moved off down the corridor and into a room whose door remained cracked open. This one she could tell belonged to Alec Lightwood, but something in her mind told her that he was… ah, occupied elsewhere. Swiftly she moved onto another room, which had a line of light leaking from under the door. She pushed the wood open a crack, sliding her head into the room and glancing around. It was more grand than those of the children, though a similar size. It held a king sized oak bed made up with white sheets, littered with colourful cushions and fluffy pillows. Sat in the middle of the bed was Maryse Lightwood, her straight black hair spread over her thin shoulders as she cradled a photograph in her hands. She looked up as Lilith entered the room, and smiled weakly from behind her veil of hair. "Clary. What brings you here at such a late hour?"

"Oh… I couldn't sleep. Jace still isn't quite right… It's like I've lost him." Maryse tapped the bed next to her and Lilith sat down, watching Maryse as she stroked the photograph she held in her shaking hands.

"I know how you feel. I've lost two of my boys in just a few months- first Max, and that was the last straw for Robert. He's staying in Idris, you know. We're getting a divorce. He doesn't want to hurt me or the kids… it's just easier this way. We've been drifting apart for years, really. I thought Max would sort everything out- and for a while he was. He was the glue that held us all together… and now he's gone… we're falling apart." Lilith softened her face and reached out her hand, taking hold of Maryse's fingers between hers.

Her eyes flashed black once more, and Maryse crumpled backwards against the pillows. The crumpled photograph of Max and Robert cuddling each other fell to the floor of the bedroom, and fluttered under the bed. Lilith stood, striding from the room and continuing down the corridor. The next door she encountered belonged to Isabelle- who was sleeping restlessly under her rumpled silk sheets.

Lilith reached out, resting her hand over Isabelle's forehead. The girl's eyes snapped open at her touch and fear spiked through her. "Clary? What are you…" Was all that managed to escape her lips before Lilith's eyes flashed black and she crumpled back against the mattress. Lilith brushed her hands off on her jeans and strode from the room, using Clary's mental map of the institute to find her way to the ballroom. In here, she began to draw runes on the polished wooden floor. They burned black, and she stood back to admire her work as the spell began to take place. Demons- weak ones but enough to defend the institute and take down any of the Nephilim should they wake- rose from the blackness of the runes and swarmed around her.

The door to the ballroom slammed open, and in the doorway stood a single silent brother. His hood was thrown back, and a long wooden staff was clutched in his hands. His black hair whipped around his face, cut and marked with the runes of the brotherhood. His eyes gleamed as he raised the staff, and the doors slammed shut behind him. "Good evening, Lilith. Come to play?"

Simon ran flat out, jumping over bin-bags and the piles of rubbish that littered the alleyway. He didn't know where Clary was but hoped she was following, hoped they could find each other again. The sword clacked against his shoulder blades with every movement, a constant reminder of the mission he was running away from. He was scared; there was no doubt about that. If he had been mortal, if his heart still beat inside his chest then it would have been pounding against his ribs like there was no tomorrow. Indeed, as he skirted the corner of a building and clambered up a metal fire escape, he wondered if he'd ever see the light again.

He emerged, panting, atop a high, square building. From where he stood he noticed that a dockyard lay on the other side of the buildings, with tens of boats tethered to wooden docks. From this viewpoint he could look down into the alleyway he had just escaped, where the men he assumed were Sebastian's lackeys were prowling the ground, searching for him.

_Simon._

_Clary? Thank god. What do we do?_

_I don't know. Sebastian's not going to move onto his next location until you've been dealt with- or he's at least sure that you're not going to follow him. I drew a portal on a window in Magnus' apartment to get here in the first place. We just need something- some glass like a window or a mirror- and I can portal us to wherever he is. Lilith's in my body- she has access to my mortal thoughts and can send stuff to my mind, but she can't read what I'm thinking. The connection isn't the same both ways though- I can't read her thoughts, exactly, but both Jace and Sebastian are linked to her and I can see where they are. I can find him. We have to let him go._

_But he's not going to move until they stop hunting me… and they know that killing me is not going to be an easy job. They're gonna finish me off, Clary._

_We just have to keep going. Cause a distraction… just keep running. All we have to do is lose them- they'll report back that you're nowhere to be seen and he'll vanish. I won't let them get you._

She let go of his hand and faded back into the night. The men in the alleyway below moved on and started onto the main street, and Simon let out an automatic sigh of relief. Clary closed her eyes and sunk into Lilith's thoughts. They were grey with mystery, confusing with unintelligible plans and plots that Clary couldn't quite make out. Something was wrong- she could sense it. Lilith felt happy, like she'd achieved something- and anything that made Lilith happy could only be bad news. A warmth slipped into her chest, and all of a sudden the whereabouts of both Jace and Sebastian sprung to mind- Jace was in his room at the institute- sleeping or knocked out she couldn't tell- and Sebastian… was in New York.


	11. Chapter 10

Clary fumbled for Simon's hand, dread spiking through her body like knives. _Sebastian's in New York. There's something going on at the Institute- something's not right. Lilith's happy, and that's never good. We've got to find a window, somewhere I can whip up some condensation and portal us over to the Institute. Sebastian's heading there- he must be. We have to stop them before it's too late._

Without waiting for Simon to reply, she let go of his hand again and ran over to the edge of the building. She crouched behind the low wall and looked over the edge at the maze of alleyways below- one of the men with the red runes was positioned at each corner, the muscles bulging in their folded arms, the moonlight glinting off the shining weapons they held in their hands. Clary bit her lip, reaching out for Simon's hand once more. _We'll have to jump- over the alleyway. We can make it across the rooftops- just get out of range long enough to portal out of here._

_Are you crazy? _Simon sounded incredulous, his eyes burning.

_Yes, but that's rather against the point. Over there- can you see it? That one with the little shed thing on top. Go on, silently._

_What about you?_

_I'll be right beside you, now go. _She let go of his hand and watched as he backed away towards the centre of the building, then ran towards the edge. He closed his eyes as he jumped up onto the wall and threw himself across the alley, landing like a cat on the other side. Clary followed, her lack of physical being more than compensating for her lack of training.

Simon was gearing up to leap across the next gap, when something emerged from the night and ran into him, knocking him down. The hulking figure stood up, blocking out the light of the moon and hovering over the vampire like a death sentence. He brought his fist down, smashing the concrete where Simon's head has been one second before. Simon jumped to his feet, and the man lashed out with his fist again. The vampire lost his balance, and was suddenly handing from the edge of the building by nothing more than his fingertips. The man raised his massive fist again, and Simon's fingertips slipped on the ledge. He seemed to drop his arm in slow motion, hid huge fist heading towards Simon's face. It hit its target, and Simon's fingers lost their grip. He fell backwards, tumbling through the night, and landed unmoving in an unceremonious heap on the litter-strewn ground of the alley below.

Alec stepped out of the shower, the last of the stained orange water trickling down the drain as he grabbed one of Magnus' fluffy white towels from the pile on the laundry basket. He stepped over to the full length mirror to dry off, examining the bruises on his back and the cuts on his knuckles as he rubbed them dry. Magnus had run off into New York with no explanation- presumably to find a cure. However Alec knew, deep in his heart, that the time for a cure had passed. Vampire blood coursed through his veins now, and it would only be a matter of time before he felt 'the pull'. He'd have to go find Maureen again. He listed in his head the things he wouldn't be able to do once he had turned- he wouldn't be able to consume 'human' food- he'd have to live off blood, like Simon. He wouldn't be able to go out in the sun, or on holy ground… His head snapped up.

The institute- his home. If he became a vampire, he would never be able to enter his home again. His room with all his belongings would be lost- as would his life as a shadowhunter. His runes would fade, his parabatai would be gone from him forever… Crippling pain seized his chest as he thought about what the future would bring. He would outlive Jace, and Isabelle, and his mother, and Clary- and he would watch them all die. Wrapping the damp towel around his shoulders, he slunk to the tiled floor and rested his forehead against the cool ceramic. No. Quickly he stood, pulling his clothes on and slipping on the damp tiles as he sprinted from the room, slipped into his shoes and out of the apartment. Once on the streets, he knew where he needed to go- the Institute.

Lilith grinned, her tongue flicking between her lips as Brother Zachariah stepped into the room, gently pushing the doors shut with his simple staff. The demons behind Lilith rose to their full height, black and shadowy, towering over Clary's simple form like skyscrapers. The stench of garbage filled the room quickly, hitting the silent brother like a kick in the chest. His nostrils flared and he leapt forward, his bare feet sliding along the stone tiles of the ballroom floor.

His arm outstretched, his staff hit the first demon square in the chest, taking it by surprise. It immediately dissolved into a pile of ashy powder, spreading out over the brown tiles with the draft from one of the warped window frames. The Brother stood, straightened his back and turned to look Lilith in the eyes. Another of the demons charged and suddenly the fight was on- but the brother managed to take out each and every one of the demons in a matter of seconds. Lilith hissed and clapped her hands, and a multitude of demons emerged from the charcoal-black runes on the floor. Brother Zachariah cracked his shoulders and raised his chin, then stretched out the hand not holding his staff. His fingers twitched inwards, inviting the demons to fight. Come at me.

The doors to the ballroom swung open, and every set of eyes in the room turned to face the new arrival. Alec Lightwood stood on the threshold, his seraph blade lighting up the bright blue bruise that was spreading across his jaw. His skin was pale, the black runes glowing with a new sort of luminescence. He stepped into the room and grinned at Lilith. He licked his lips, then sprinted forwards into the thick of the fight.

The smoky demons twisted around the men as they fought in perfect synchrony, twisting this way and that and taking out the demons with a swipe of their weapons. Alec moved like a ballerina, a black swan carving gashes from the creatures with his shining angel blades. His hair flew with his movements, spiking out and swishing around as he moved this way and that. One demon swung out with a massive claw, catching Alec's cheek as he thrust his blade forwards into his chest.

The second round of demons had been vanquished and the team stood together, facing Lilith. "We can't kill Clary." Alec muttered, his eyes alight with the fire of the fight.

_No, but we can injure her. Use a seraph blade- Lilith's still weak enough to require the use of Clary's body. This is risky- the most effective way to kill a demon is also the most effective way to kill a human, and we risk destroying things that can't be repaired- not by any degree. Whatever you do, don't aim for the heart._

Alec nodded and leapt forwards. He swung his foot out as he landed, kicking Lilith around the ankles so that she fell to the ground. The demon venom from the cut on his cheek had started to enter his bloodstream- his head spun and his eyes couldn't focus on anything, but he was determined to win this fight. He jumped atop the demon and straddled her hips, the glowing blade of Ithuriel held in the space between Clary's ribs. Her skin bled red when he pricked the surface under her mundane clothes, and Alec's hands began to shake. This was Clary- Jace's Clary. In hurting her, he would hurt Jace. His brother.

He shook the thoughts out of his head, but by now he had hesitated too much. Lilith had seen her opportunity and seized it, grabbing Alec's wrists and throwing him down onto the tiled floor. She grinned, and her black eyes flashed the gemstone green that Alec was now so familiar with. His head was foggy, his whole body feeling like it was sinking into the ground. As his eyes drifted shut and unconsciousness took hold, he felt the weight of Lilith lifted from his chest.

Brother Zachariah stood ready- his feet apart in a shoulder-width stance with his staff held out before him. Lilith smiled, her tongue sliding between her teeth. "Oh, but you can't kill me with that, _Zachariah._ You and I both know that's not going to happen."

_No, precious Lilith. But perhaps killing you is not what I had in mind._


	12. Chapter 11

Raphael stopped outside the gates to the Institute, and Magnus came to a halt with a sigh. "You could have just pointed me here- it was going to be my first guess anyway…"

Raphael shook his head. "Silly Warlock, no. This is not where you'll find Holy Water, but it is possibly where you'll come across… something else. I believe this is where you'll find your beloved Alec- it appears he had the idea of coming here before you did. Something's wrong- it's possible they require your assistance, Bane. Farewell."

"Wait! How did you know? That Alec is here?"

"He is now of the blood. We have our ways."

"Of… the blood?"

"Oh yes, I forgot to tell you. Your quest for blessed water was futile, dear. It would have worked in the first hour or so after the fight, but from there on out… your boy is lost. Farewell, Warlock."

Magnus started to ask another question, but let it pass as Raphael melted into the shadows. No, there must be something. He could not bear the possibility of losing two of his loves in merely one day. He ran his fingers through his hair- then snapped his head up as a shriek of pain echoed from inside the halls of the Institute. Taking the steps two at a time, he rang the summoning bell at the door. Nothing answered his calls but malicious laughter, shrieks of pain and amusement from deep inside the building. Desperate, he pounded on the doors with his fists- and was shocked to find that they opened at his touch. He looked down at his hands in wonder, before seeing the reason behind this 'miracle'.

Alec's blood still stained his hands. It was crusted beneath his fingernails and smeared down his arms, spotting his hands and wrists. Evidence, a brutal reminder of the boy he had come here to save- the Nephilim who had stolen his heart and crushed it into dust. The warlock stepped into the eerily silent Institute, his ears prickling as he listened out for more noise. A scream- this time Alec's- followed by the cackling laugh of victory.

Without thinking, Clary leapt from the building and landed next to Simon. She gripped his hand, shouting his name inside her head. _Simon! Please!_ Her heart sank as no answer came, and the leering face of the man above them grinned down into the alleyway. Heavy footsteps began to pound down a fire escape, and Clary leapt to her feet. She looked around like a rabbit caught in the headlights, jumping with every step. Quickly, she pushed through the rubbish to the small window leading into the basement of the warehouse they had been stood on. She scrawled the portal rune into the grime and rolled back over to Simon as the window began to shimmer, gripping his hand and willing him to wake up. _We have to go! Now!_

His eyes fluttered and he groaned as he opened them. _Clary?_

_Come on! He threw you off the roof, and they're coming for you. Sebastian is heading to the institute, and we need to portal our asses back to New York to smite him down before he hooks up with Lilith. Get up!_

All the life seemed to come back into Simon as he hauled himself to his knees and crawled after Clary. Glass shards on the concrete flooring cut his jeans and dug into his skin, soaking the blue fabric with blood. Clary gripped his hand as he reached the window, and together they tumbled through the shimmering glass and into the darkness beyond.

They landed together in New York, sprawled in the alleyway across from the institute. In the entrance to the alleyway, his silhouette lit by the orange glow of streetlights and the impending dawn, stood Sebastian. Simon crept up behind him, swinging out with the angel sword but missing by inches. The demon boy spun around, his eyes seeming to glow red with rage. "Daylighter!" He hissed, his lips curling back to reveal his gleaming teeth. "Still following me? Still trying to rip me apart with that blasted sword?"

Simon adjusted his grip on the handle and swung again and again, his rage taking away all his fighting instincts and channelling itself into pure energy. He finally managed to back Sebastian into an alcove in the wall of the warehouse, holding the point of the glowing sword to his chest. He didn't look into the boy's eyes to see his pleas of mercy before he drove the blade into his chest.

Clary gasped, suddenly blinded with immense pain. She fumbled around in the darkness for a second, before catching onto a spark of light. She latched onto this with all her mind and focussed on it, gasping for air as though she was drowning at the bottom of a deep pool. She opened her eyes and gulped gasps of air, and looked up from where she lay on the alley floor at the orange glow of night pollution above the buildings of New York. Simon stood above her, the gleaming sword shaking inches from her chest. "Simon?"

Her voice came out deep, the sound of betrayal evident but… it was not her voice. "Tell me. Tell me something only Clary would know." Simon's voice shook like the blade he held in his hand, which he now pushed against her throat when she hesitated to answer.

"We… we met when I was only 6 years old."

"Not good enough." His voice shook, the cold point of the sword pressing into the soft skin between her collarbones.

"Once, when we were like… 8… we had a sleepover, and we told each other ghost stories. The one I told you was so awful you wet the bed." Her voice shook, still deeper than she was used to and distinctly not her voice. Her hands shook, but they didn't feel like her hands. They didn't seem totally under her control.

"Too good." Clary smiled, but Simon shook his head. "Something isn't right, Clary. I killed him… and now… You're…"

Clary looked around the alleyway, then down at her own body. _Shit_, she thought, looking down at the fine-cut and now blood-stained clothes she was wearing. _I'm Sebastian_.


	13. Chapter 12

"Okay, what the heck is going on here?" Clary was still getting used to the lower-toned voice of Sebastian-her hands we shaking with shock and she kept shaking her head indisbelief "No, no no no. Simon you have to kill me. Cut me out of here. Now."

"Clary that won't do anybody any good… we… listen, we can use this."

_Surprise, surprise, daylighter_.

Simon jumped out of his skin. _Sebastian?!_

_Damn right, vampire. You really think you could kill me? Nah. That sword's bullshit I tell you. Absolute bull. It can't kill me. You've followed the wrong boy, doofus. I flicked out for a damn split second and your little girlfriend's in my body. Don't think I don't know how she's been getting around- oh, I know. And I can pull the same tricks, don't you worry. There's a haunting coming your way, my friend._

He let go of Simon's hand and rushed away into the dawn.

"Simon?" Clary pushed herself up shakily, not quite used to the height of this body, of the broadness of Sebastian's shoulders or the way his hair fell loosely into her eyes. "Hey, Simon?"

"I… We didn't kill him. Sebastian's still alive. Through your connection to Lilith… he… he knows how to portal, and he knows everything you know and everything you managed to discover. And he's threatened me- us- and you know how he is with his threats. I…" His hands shook and he through the sword to the ground in frustration. "He said we killed the wrong boy. I think he means we have to cut the connection through Jace."

"Simon. Leave it, okay? Don't think about that scumbag, not for one second more. I look like him, right? I sound like him too. Lilith's in the institute, shit's going down and I… I could help. I could pretend to be Sebastian."

"You think that would work? Don't you think Lilith would know, instantly? This is really dangerous, Clary."

"You don't think I don't know that? Listen, shit's going down. We need to stab Jace with that sword, right? It won't kill him- look at Sebastian. There's not a mark on his body."

"But what if it does the same thing to Jace as it did to Sebastian, as the demon blade did to you? What if it separates his soul from his body, and this whole thing carries on in circles until finally you're you again? What if you're never you again, and you're stuck in Sebastian?"

"That's a risk I'm willing to take." She bent over and picked up the angel sword, feeling its weight in her hands. "Besides, hallowed ground. You can't get into the institute, and I couldn't do this in 'ghost' form anyway. As Sebastian, if Jace sees me, he won't know it's me. He won't feel betrayed by me… and maybe my 'disguise' is just enough to let me sneak past Lilith- and whatever demons she has in there- too."

Simon shook his head, biting his lips. His fangs had come out, piercing the skin.

"Go get something to eat- I'll…" She patted down Sebastian's pockets, searching for a phone or something else she could use to get hold of him. She felt something solid in his breast pocket and pulled from it a gold ring like the one Simon was wearing. "Use this. Why the heck…? Oh yeah, he was spying on us. Right."

She slipped the ring onto her finger and felt the metal move to shape itself to Sebastian's skin. Securing her grip on the sword, she flicked Sebastian's hair out of her eyes and marched across the road- up the steps to the Institute and through the wooden doors.

If the fact that the doors were already open did not make Clary suspicious, the lack of Church certainly did. She padded across to the elevator and rode it up to the next level, padding down the corridors towards Jace's room. When she finally reached it and pushed the door open, she found him sprawled across his bed with his eyes firmly shut, his chest gently rising and falling as he drew breath in and out, in and out.

Clary inhaled deeply and stepped forward, moving to stand next to the bed. She stroked his hand, but his skin did not feel the same as it had when she touched it with her own. Biting her lip, she lifted the sword above Jace's sleeping form and rested the tip on his chest, then before she could think too much about what she was about to do- she plunged the blade downwards.

Jace's bones crunched as the sword broke them, and the bed became stained with dark red blood as the metal sheered through the mattress and poked out of the other side. Clary stumbled backwards in horror as Jace's eyes flew open and he looked at her with such immense pain. "Why, brother?" He croaked, gasping for breath as his eyes flickered to and fro, and his hands clawed at and twisted the sheets beneath his body. "Why?" This time his voice was nothing more than a gasp as all the life left his body, and the angel blade dissolved into a pile of white powder, settling itself like snow over Jace's still figure.

"Jace?" Clary asked tentatively, stepping over the items that had fallen off the shelf as she had backed against it, and moving over to his bed. "Jace?" Her voice was a whisper as she looked into his clear golden eyes and saw nothing there- simply a hollowness. A darkness with no light. Not her Jace.

Her heart crumpled and she backed away from the bed once more, the boy's blood staining her fingers. She let out a sob then fell into the corridor, her face in her hands. _Oh Angel. Oh God. I killed him. I murdered my Jace in cold blood, and now the sword is gone and we will never kill Sebastian and I've failed, everyone. I've failed the Nephilim. I've failed Alec and Isabelle and Magnus and Simon… I've failed._ She wiped her eyes on the sleeve of Sebastian's tunic and stumbled to her feet again, holding onto the wall for support. _So I've got nothing to lose_.

The doors to the ballroom slammed open and Magnus strode in, taking in the scene before him with a quick eye and striking back Lilith with a flick of his wrist. She hit the far wall with a crunch and Magnus ran forwards to Alec, cradling his head under his fingers and leaning down to kiss his forehead. "Alec, honey, come on. Wake up, come on." Alec groaned beneath him and rolled his head, murmuring words nobody could understand. The demons rose up again as Lilith grinned and Brother Zachariah strode towards her, his staff outstretched. Magnus rose to his feet and started zapping the demons down one by one, blue sparks flying from his fingertips like flames.

All heads in the room turned around as the doors swung open once more, and Lilith grinned as she noticed Sebastian standing in the doorway. "Sebastian! How nice of you to turn up. I was just playing with our… _dear_… friends. Why don't you join us?" Her tongue flickered as she waited for an answer, and Sebastian smiled.

Clary grinned at the room before her- the demons melting into puddles of ash and ichor, Brother Zachariah striking out another demon as his hair flew and he stood up straight to look at her, and Magnus wiping out another demon with his fingers then turning to look her in the eyes, his expression furious. Alec lay on the floor in the middle of the fight, coated in blood and ichor, with his black runes glowing weirdly against his skin. He was rolling his head from side to side, muttering with fever as Clary took a step forward into the room.

Lilith leaned forward hungrily, licking her lips as Clary strode forward, a sheep in wolf's clothing. Clary grinned, Sebastian's thin lips curving into a half-moon smile.

"No."


	14. Chapter 13

Clary stalked across the room, taking a step every few words that she spoke. "I will not stand by you and watch you tear apart everything the Nephilim stand for. We killed Sebastian- stabbed him right through with the angel blade." She pointed at her chest to emphasise her point, though what she was saying was not strictly true. "And now, I want my body back."

"Clary?" Magnus blinked, taking out a demon with his left hand as he turned idly to face her. "Prove that it's you." His eyes sparkled, with both disbelief and hope.

"I… can't. You'll just have to take my word for it." She hesitated to turn back to Lilith, her eyes drifting over Alec's limp body on the stone flooring and the un-hooded head of Brother Zachariah as he took out another demon and took one step closer to Lilith.

Inside Sebastian's body, she stepped forwards again, still creeping back towards her own body, the pull too much to tear herself away from. "I'm done with this- with you. You think you can just walk all over everyone, take my body and get away with it? You think you can take out the Institute and nobody will notice? Bullshit. We dedicate our lives to eradicating this earth of demons like you and this time is no different. And, if you won't give my body up, then I am more than willing to."

She turned her head now, looking up at Brother Zachariah as he took out the last of the demons. "Do it. Kill me- kill her. Destroy my body so she can't use me, trap her in a pyxis and lock her away for a million years. I don't care what it takes to do it… just…"

"Clary?" Magnus was suddenly at her side, resting his hand gently on her shoulder. His voice was soft in her ear, a murmur at most. "What did you do?"

She gulped down a sob, clenching and unclenching her fists at her sides. "I killed Jace."

Brother Zachariah leapt forward with his staff in hand, taking Lilith unawares as she studied the scene between Magnus and Clary- or Sebastian. He swiped the wooden stick sideways with all his might and smashed it into her skull, and Sebastian dropped to the ground in agony, clutching his head. _Well that settles it then- it really is Clary, _Zachariah thought, as he brought the staff down onto Lilith's chest. She coughed blood, and sticky red liquid oozed onto the tiles beneath Sebastian's crouched figure.

Lilith took one more strike before going down completely, lying still and unmoving on the cold floor. Brother Zachariah tucked his staff into the belt of his robes and looked up at Magnus with a grim expression on his face that said all he needed to know. His eyes widened as another figure appeared at the door, pale and drenched in blood with his hair plastered to his face with sweat- Jace.

"Clary?" He croaked, starting to hobble towards Lilith before crumpling onto the floor just inside the doors, clutching at his chest and wincing as he struggled for breath. Magnus shook his head and fell to the floor, scooping Alec up in his arms and holding him like a child. He struggled from the ballroom, sprinting across the Institute to the infirmary like a bat out of hell. Brother Zachariah scooped up Lilith with the same motion, but carried Clary's body in a calmer, less desperate fashion. He rested his hand on Jace's head as he passed, sending a shock through the boy that seemed to wake him up.

_Bring Sebastian. It's important- you'll understand._

As though controlled by Brother Zachariah's words, Jace rose to his feet and shed his bloody shirt, taking a deep breath as the pain in his ribs lessened and the power of the angel blade healed him from the inside. He bent over and lifted Sebastian by the shoulders, picking him and throwing him over his left shoulder. "Whatever you did to Clary, I'll make you pay." He muttered through gritted teeth, struggling under Sebastian's weight as he stepped out into the corridor. "Mark my words."

Magnus was bent over Alec as Jace stepped into the infirmary and dropped Sebastian onto the bed next to Clary. Brother Zachariah had pulled his hood back up over his head and now stood silent at the end of Clary's bed, his staff in hand. _Jace Herondale_. He began, closing his eyes beneath the hood. _The girl that lays on the bed before me is not the Clary you know and love. At the battle in Ireland, Clary was mortally wounded with the blade of a demon. It was enchanted by a warlock practicing dark magic so that it would separate her soul from her body. It is to my belief that this was orchestrated by Lilith, so that she might take over Clary's body and impersonate her in order to obtain Nephilim secrets or such. With shadowhunter blood she was able to access the Institute at will and with Clary's power to create runes, was able to draw the runes you saw on the floor of the ballroom. These runes would spawn demons at her command- and unlimited amount. She could have created an army if Alec, Magnus and I were not there to stop her._

_Clary's soul was not trapped like that of a ghost, though they shared much of the same qualities. Clary took with her part of her power, and was able to draw runes on glass without the use of a stele-she was able to portal around the world and, to my understanding, tracked down Sebastian through a mental connection with Lilith. In finding Sebastian, Clary also found Simon and the Angel Blade. The next stage in Sebastian's plan was to wake you from the sleep in which Lilith had placed you, and bring you down here to fight against us and rule the demon army. He never got that far- Simon stabbed him with the Angel sword and removed what was left of his soul from his body. I believe that Sebastian now exists in the same state Clary had- however she was so close to his body that when his soul left, hers was sucked in._

_And so Jace, it stands like this. Clary managed to sever the connection between yourself and Sebastian, and by extension Lilith. Alec and myself fought off the first round of demons, but was struck by a claw and is now infected with the demon poison. The fight took so long to finish that Magnus will have to work hard if he is to save him- but he will not let me near to help. It is on his shoulders._

_Clary's soul is trapped inside Sebastian's body, and the longer she remains trapped the more damaged her soul will be. She is pure, Clary- good and innocent. Being in touch with a body so contaminated with evil for too long will harm her, I am sure. And, the longer Lilith remains in Clary's body, the higher the risk of Clary's soul returning to a body that is near uninhabitable. Lilith is sneaky- she may have damaged Clary's body in ways we cannot imagine. It is not nearly as simple as it all seems-_

"Then I'll leave. Let you do your… thing. I'll…"

_Go upstairs. With Lilith so weak, she can't hold up the force that is keeping Maryse and Isabelle subdued. Wake them and bring them down to the library- tell them to await me there._

Brother Zachariah turned his back on Jace and raised his hand, pulling the curtains shut around the two beds with an invisible force. Jace glanced over to Alec as Clary vanished behind the screen, and saw Magnus' pale and worried face.

"Can I…?" he started, but Magnus shook his head.

"I'm too late… I've failed…" His voice was like a cry, an agonising moan that Jace could not bear to hear coming from the mouth of someone he had always considered so strong.

Jace opened his mouth to ask what Magnus meant, but suddenly crumpled to the ground as an immense pain took over his body. The parabatai rune on his shoulder had begun to burn, the pain spiking through his chest and piercing his heart in a million different places. Blood prickled on his skin and ran in lines down his bare skin as he bent on the floor, scrunching up his face in an attempt to bear it. "Alec…" He strained, lifting his head from the bleeding rune to look at his brother.

Alec was pale, the runes on his skin glistening like they weren't completely there. His cheek was red and puffed up with venom, the skin almost bruised with swelling. Magnus clutched his hand as his chest rose and fell with desperation, and his head twisted with agonising hallucinations. Jace struggled to his feet and collapsed on Alec's other side, gripping his parabatai's hand as he prepared to leave the mortal world. "No." He whispered, tightening his grip. "No."


	15. Chapter 14

The air next to Magnus shimmered and a figure appeared- a sort of hologram that showed Raphael Santiago- the head of the New York vampire clan. "You knew this would come, Bane. He is mine. His blood is tainted with that of the damned. If you want him to survive, you will allow me to take him. Please. You have done me so many favours over the years, but now it is my turn to repay you. Bring him out to the gates of the institute- I am here with Simon Lewis. Together we will help him to transition, and bring him back to you. You have my word."

Magnus shook his head. Tears glistened in his eyes and he had to bit his lips to stop himself from crying. "He can't die. It's Alec. He can't."

"Warlock… if he remains here then he will die- and soon. He is but a mere mortal. If you bring him to us, he will never die. He will become an immortal one, like you. You will be able to live together, forever, without fear of losing one another."

Magnus gulped, one of his tears beginning the slow descent down his cheek. Finally he nodded, looking down into Alec's face with all the love and affection of the past thousand years. He scooped him up in his arms, pushing his lolling head into his shoulder and nuzzling his neck affectionately as he strode from the infirmary. _He will have to watch his mother die, watch as his sister and brother grow old and have children while he cannot. He will have to watch them all die, or leave them forever. _His march from the infirmary was like a funeral march, and Jace could almost hear the funeral bells ringing in his head. Ave Atque Vale, Alexander Lightwood.

Upstairs, Jace walked into Isabelle's room and found the girl lying sprawled on the floor, one of her cheeks resting on her arm, with her fingers curled around the edges of a photograph. He crouched beside her and slipped the paper from her fingers, smoothing its crumpled edges and setting it down on her bedside table. "Iz… Izzy. Come on, wake up."

He thought back to how he himself had woken up- the cool feeling of wet blood seeping into his skin from his shirt- and grabbed the glass of water from Izzy's bedside table. Shrugging, he tossed the water into her face and shook her gently by the shoulders. "Isabelle. It's Alec- wake up." At this her eyes snapped open and she fumbled for her electrum whip- which Jace had had the foresight to grab and was now holding over her head.

"What's wrong?"

"He got into a fight. There was some mess with Magnus involving Camille and he went to sort it out- Camille's dead by the way- and Alec encountered Maureen. You know what she's like, and she tried to dispose of him like she had done with Camille. Alec did the thing you really don't want to do unless you really absolutely have to- and bit Maureen to get her off him. She seemed content with that and left him to die, so he went to Magnus- but he didn't know what had happened. Alec couldn't remember that part of the codex- and…"

"He's a darkling now, isn't he?" Isabelle pushed herself off the floor and sunk onto her bed. "He's going to become a vampire."

Jace nodded, resting his hands on his knees to comfort her. "That's not everything- there's a massive mess with Clary and Lilith which Brother Zachariah is trying to sort out. We need to get down to the library- but first we need to wake up Maryse. Do you think you could do that? Only, I need to…" He motioned at his bare chest and Isabelle laughed for a second, before noticing the bloody smear of his parabatai rune.

"Jace?" She was quiet now, and reached out to touch the rune that adorned his chest. "Alec… he…?" The throbbing in his chest suddenly intensified and Jace curled into a ball, hissing with pain. He shook his head as tears sprung from his eyes, dampening the carpet beneath his face.

"No. No. You can't. Don't do this to me." Isabelle crouched beside him again and rested her hand on his shoulder as he sobbed into the floor. "No. Alec. Please."

The pain subsided as quickly as it had come, and Jace looked up into Isabelle's face, his eyes wet and stinging. Isabelle's lips crumpled together as she wiped away the blood on Jace's chest with her sleeve and saw the pale skin where the parabatai rune used to reside. It still existed- but shining and white like an old burn, instead of bold and black like a fresh tattoo. She leaned into Jace's body, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and burying her face in his neck. "Jace… he'd dead isn't he? Alec's dead." She sniffed, her chest heaving. First Max, then her father and now Alec, too. She shook as Jace numbly wrapped his arms around her trembling shoulders and rocked them both back and two, memories of their time together flitting through their minds as together; they grieved the loss of their brother.

Magnus cradled Alec's lolling head as he marched down the front steps of the institute and into the light drizzle that hung in the cool air. As promised, Raphael stood beside the gates, a timid-looking Simon standing at his side. "Clary…?" He asked, jumping forward as Magnus reached earshot. "Is she okay?"

Magnus came to a stop just inside the gates of the institute and shook his head. "It's complicated… Brother Zachariah is with her- them- and some more Silent Brothers are on their way. Look, Simon…"

"Tell her what's happened. And I'll help him, don't worry. He… I know he doesn't like me, he's never really taken a shine to me and I don't blame him, but the next few weeks will be hard- and he'll have a friend to help him through them. I swear on it." Simon reached out and placed his hand over Magnus' wrist for a moment, then took Alec's limp form from him and held him in his outstretched arms.

Alec gasped for air as his burning skin touched Simon's ice-cold flesh, and Magnus reached out to take hold of him once more. "Let him go, amigo. You have all of eternity- you will see him again in but a moment of the life you have left to live." Raphael touched Magnus' wrist where Simon had, merely copying Simon's gesture- that he in turn had learnt from some awful teen-targeted TV show. Magnus' hair fell forwards as he hung his head, watching out of the corner of his eye as Simon turned with Raphael's hand on his shoulder, and together they began the march to the Hotel Dumont.


	16. Chapter 15

As they stepped away from the Institute and around the corner into the darkness of New York, Alec began to shudder and gasp in Simon's arms, and the young vampire dropped to his knees on the concrete, cradling the shadowhunter's head in his lap. "There isn't time, Raphael. We can't get him to the clan. Just do it here, we'll take him to the graveyard and get it over with. At this rate, the demon poison will kill him before we can."

Raphael sighed and leaned over Alec, turning his head to one side and feeling the faint pulse under his fingertips. "I hate to say it but you're probably right. It's risky though- Magnus told us that he bit Maureen but… it's hard to say if he consumed enough…" Simon gave Raphael a dark look and tore into the flesh of his palm with his fangs, holding the dripping cut above Alec's parted lips and watching as he gulped it down.

"Happy?"

"No, I'm eternally damned. But yes, that will probably do the trick. Let's get him somewhere less open, at least." Together they broke into the basement of a nearby takeaway and lowered Alec into the storeroom below. Amongst boxes of noodle cartons and sauce sachets, Raphael began to tear into Alec's skin with his fangs. "I've got a task for you- I need you to go hunting. Remember when you turned, _daylighter_? We need blood, and lots of it. Drinkable blood, about 20 pints. You don't know how much he's going to go through."

"20? That's like… 2 whole humans. Where am I even going to get that much blood? Breaking into a blood bank?"

"Yes and no. We've got our own stocks at the Dumort- that's why we kind of needed to run past there. Wasn't much time though. Most of the clan should be out hunting to feed themselves and keep the stocks up, but there's this huge room in the basement. It's like a walk-in fridge, full of blood packets. Just bring as many as you can carry, and if it's not enough you'll have to go back for more. Simple." He bit into Alec's neck, tearing at the flesh and watching as his Nephilim blood spilled on the floor of the takeaway, a sticky, sickly red puddle. "Go! Meet me at the graveyard that forms the entrance to the City of Bones." Even as they spoke, the flow of blood pumping from Alec's neck frittered to a stop. "Quickly, Simon."

Jace shook his head as Isabelle clawed at his shoulders. "No. He's not dead. He can't be." He pushed Isabelle back onto her heels and held onto her shoulders to keep her upright. "Maryse."

Isabelle shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks in rivers. "I…"

"Iz…" His voice was twisted by agony, the blood still smearing his chest and his heart feeling like it had been crushed into a thousand shards. "Please."

She looked up at him, her chest still shuddering with gasping sobs. Together they pulled up, and stood in Isabelle's destroyed room with the weight of everything pressing down upon them. They walked to the door, shutting out everything but each other. "I'll meet you in the library. There's something I have to do…" Jace stepped away first, walking down the corridor with fog in his mind. He had to hold onto the wall once, as a wave of grief collided with him and threatened to knock him down

Isabelle watched as he walked away, his head hung and his shoulders hunched. She raised her chin, wiped her tears on her sleeves and stalked in the opposite direction. This _kind of thing happens. You fight, and you either win or you die. To die in name of the Nephilim is an honourable death- a worthy one. Yes…_ She reached the room that had once been her parents' and leaned gently on the door, pushing it open with her shoulder and slipping into the dark of her mother's room. Maryse was sprawled on the bed, the sheets crumpled around her and a photograph of Max and their father smiling clutched in her fingers.

"Mom?" Isabelle sat on the edge of the bed, then changed her mind and curled up next to her mother like a small child afraid of thunder. "There's something really important that you have to know…"

Jace leaned into the door and pushed it open, entering the room that had once belonged to his best friend, to his brother. Alec's room. He sat down on the dark blue covers of his bed and stroked them fondly. How often had they sat together in this very spot, going over the Codex and polishing their weapons? Tears pricked at his eyes again, but this time Jace straightened his back and looked up at the ceiling, blinking them away. _Not again_. As he sat there, the door creaked open and in strode Brother Zachariah, his hood now raised, his staff nowhere to be seen.

_Jace Herondale. You are aware that we Silent Brothers have the capacity to be immortal? I myself became a shadowhunter over 100 years ago, and in that time I have learnt one thing._

Jace looked down from the ceiling and focused his attention on Zachariah's shadowed face.

_Loss is inevitable. I used to be a shadowhunter myself, in a similar situation to you. I was born in China and grew up at the institute there. My parents were killed by a demon and I was sent to London, where I continued my training and became parabatai with one William Herondale._

Jace's eyes sparkled as the story was told, his mouth curving in at the edges at the mention of his family name.

_There was a girl I loved dearly, a warlock who could have children. I had no choice but to change or to leave the mortal world behind forever, and when I became a Silent Brother, they had to believe that I had died. It hurt me so, but William and my Tess grew happy together. They had children, and William grew old. I was there when he died, holding his hand alongside Tessa as he passed from this world into the next. I know how you feel, Jace… but worry not. Like myself, Alec has been given a second chance, an opportunity to arise from death. Even now, at this moment in time, he is with the vampire Raphael Santiago._

"You mean…?"

Brother Zachariah explained everything to Jace- how Alec had fought Maureen and what had happened between Lilith, Clary and Sebastian. As he began to understand, his eyes lit up with a new gleam of hope. He leapt to his feet, sprinting down the corridor and slamming into Maryse's room.

"Iz! It's okay, he's alive…"

Her eyes shone with hopefulness, but something darker lurked under the surface. "But…?"

"He…" Jace stopped smiling, and leant back against the door. His parabatai rune still throbbed, and Isabelle's eyes on his face seemed too much to bear. Maryse's own eyes flickered open and she sat up abruptly, her glare fixing first on Isabelle, then on Jace. "Alec's a vampire."


	17. Chapter 16

Jace looked up from his seat beside the fire and watched as Maryse and Isabelle stepped into the library, their faces scrubbed red from washing away their tears. Brother Zachariah followed behind, and stood before where the three sat.

_As you are all aware, Magnus Bane has done all he can for Alec in terms of defeating the venom that entered his system during the fight with Lilith earlier today. However in the early hours of this morning Alec was involved in a fight with the vampire Maureen, and ingested some if her blood. Alec was handed over to Raphael Santiago and we have had report that he is doing well. It was inevitable that he turn, and so he will never be able to return here. Jace, the fading of your parabatai rune indicates that Alec has passed the stage of the leaving, which would tell us that he i soon to become... Ah, the undead. There is nothing we can do for your brother_.

He dropped his head a little then raised it again, taking a deep breath.

_Now, I know there is one more question that needs answering before it is asked, and that is the fate of Clary Fray. When we attempted to return her soul to her body, Lilith 'jumped in' through her connection with Jace. You were all unaware of this and as such fell victim to her powers- but you must not blame yourselves. Clary took it upon herself to find Simon, and aided him in his attempt to take down Sebastian. They attempted to sever Sebastian's connection, but his soul was so fragile as a result of his evil doings that it merely departed his body when the blade entered it. Clary's soul seized the opportunity and entered his body, so as it stands as follows. Lilith inhabits Clary's body, and is imprisoned by a seraph barrier set up by myself. _

_Clary currently inhabits Sebastian's body, but remains in the same state as Lilith while the connection exists- dormant. We need to find a way to split the souls from the bodies, or at least to swap them around. It will take time to discover a method to complete such a task, and the longer Clary's soul and body are separated and in touch with demonic forces, the more difficult it will be to reunite them. The other Brothers are currently at work in the Silent City, but I must remain here to be their correspondence and to keep the seraph barrier in operation. I would greatly appreciate if you, Maryse, could provide me with a simple room in which to work until our mission is complete._

Maryse nodded numbly, her mouth opening slightly but then closing again as the voice of Brother Zachariah entered her mind.

_In the meantime I require the use of your library here at the institute, so that I myself may join the quest to conclude our puzzle._

Jace put his head in his hands and looked down at the floor between his feet. He could feel his heart crumpling inside him as the enormity of the situation sunk in. Alec would never return here, to his home. He had left the Nephilim world behind and joined the Downworld, and now he might even lose Clary too. He got to his feet and brushed imaginary dust off his trousers, wiping his face and shaking out his hair. "I'll help." he declared, but Brother Zachariah shook his head.

_There is little you will be able to achieve. It is likely that you prove more of a hindrance than a help, young Nephilim.  
_  
"I will assist you in any way I can."

_Very well. _Brother Zachariah turned his back on them, stepping from the library with his cloaks sweeping behind him. Jace stumbled over the rug as he got to his feet and followed him from the room, shoving his hands in his pockets and pulling at the sleeves of his thermal shirt as he walked along.

Isabelle looked up from the fire and into her mother's eyes. "What are we going to do?"

"The same thing we did when he came out to us, Izzy. Accept him for who he is."

"No... I mean... Our home. When the Clave finds out, we'll lose the institute. Even if we don't… he can't ever come here again. Hallowed ground."

Maryse closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. "I guess we'll figure it out when the time comes..."

"You don't have to."

Magnus stepped into the room, closing the door softly behind him and stepping over to the seat Jace had just vacated, dropping down onto the soft leather. "If he wants to... Alec can come live with me. I've never met an individual like him in my entire life, and the thought of losing him terrifies me. But now... that isn't a possibility. I don't have to push him away from me anymore. We can be together. He can come live with me in my apartment, and maybe one day we'll move around, travel the world... I can't bear to live without him in my life. Really."

Maryse had begun to cry again at his speech, and she stood up off her chair and kneeled on the rug next to Magnus' chair. Her face crumpled with tears, she took his hand in hers and stroked his many glittering ring with her fingers while looking down at the worn rug under her knees. "You'd do that?" Magnus nodded and rested his other hand atop hers, absently stroking her fair hand.

"Of course. I love him."

Fresh air hit Alec's face as he clawed his way through the dirt, emerging muddy and caked in blood on the unkempt grass in an abandoned corner of the graveyard. His eyes glowed red with bloodlust, his nose twitching as his senses prickled. Simon stepped towards the grave and threw a bag of the chilled blood towards Alec, watching in disgust as he ripped open the plastic and let the blood dribble between his lips. _Was I really that... Rabid? _ Raphael threw the next bag forward as Alec dumped the one he had just finished and sat gasping for more, until finally the fledgling sat back on his knees and regarded the two vampires, his thirst for blood satiated.

"Is that it? Is it done?" Raphael shook his head, his hands drawing a plastic carrier bag from his pocket.

"Far from it, boy-o. Your whole life you've learnt stuff about us, what we do and how we do it, but now you have to experience it first-hand. The blood that runs through your veins is first and foremost that of Maureen, however to ensure you wouldn't… die completely, or end up rotting under the soil, Simon graciously donated some of his own blood to your cause. So he is your sire now, and he is burdened with teaching you the ways of the clan." Simon rolled his eyes in his head like a spoiled toddler.

"Really? That's what this is all about? You can't be bothered taking another fledgling under your wing and you're going to make me do it?" He turned to face Alec, extending his hand in apology. "No offence, but I'm barely a vampire myself."

"You have no choice. Like Jace was Alec's parabatai, the two of you now share a similar bond. Unfortunately Mr Lightwood here also shares that bond with Maureen, so is under the command of both of you. I guess, Simon, that you sort of have to babysit our friend here."

"Wait… What is there even to learn? I have to drink blood, right? I can't go out in the sun; I can't touch holy water or enter consecrated ground…"

"You're infertile, immortal, vulnerable to religious symbols…" Raphael began, counting them off on his fingers. Then he shook his head, tying a knot in the carrier-bag of empty blood bags and tossing it in the bin on the corner of the path. "Why am I even telling you this? It's the daylighter's job. Buenos tardes, senors." Raphael brushed his hands on the legs of his jeans and stepped into the darkness.

"How's the first few minutes of the rest of eternity been?" Simon said casually, turning to face Alec properly for the first time since he'd turned.

"Horrifying." Alec smiled, running his hands through his hair and picking out clumps of dirt. "Hey, is there anywhere I can take a shower…?" His face was smeared with streaks of blood, and his hair stuck up in all directions. Simon himself was in a similar state, and he grinned at Alec.

"Come on, we'll go back to my place. Listen-" Simon began, and Alec's eyebrows lifted in alarm. "Don't take any advice from Clary on telling anyone you're a vampire. Just… don't."

Alec grinned, but on the inside his heart felt crushed. He knew what Simon meant, but in becoming a vampire he realised that he would never again set foot in the institute. He would watch as first his mother, then Isabelle and Jace grew old and became simply memories. For the rest of eternity, he could never return home, and even Magnus hated him. For the rest of his elongated lifetime he would have only Simon as a friend. The blasted daylighter, the vampire hated by all others. He would never find love, and would be haunted and hunted by Maureen for as long as she lived.

One thing hurt Alec more than anything else. When he looked down at his arms and at his hands, and caught sight of his reflection in a window, his skin bore only the silvery patterns that showed the memory of his runes. The thousands of iratzes he had received over the years glinted in the moonlight, his parabatai rune shining like an old burn. To the untrained eye, his skin bore no evidence of his mortal life. But, to vampires and Nephilim alike, he would be an outcast. A changeling. An Other.


	18. Chapter 17

_What?_

_What's going on?_

_Someone?_

_Hey?_

_Can you hear me?_

_Ugh. _

_Please?_

_Guys?_

_Someone? Anyone?_

_…_

_Please?_

_Okay this isn't funny, what's going on?_

Clary was trapped in the darkness with no way out. Her eyes darted around beneath closed lids that refused to open, and her fingers itched to move in a body that would not understand her commands. She felt trapped and frustrated, surrounded by an unrelenting darkness. She wanted to scream out, to yell and cry and shout in the hopes that somebody somehow would hear her- but her mouth refused to move.

_Please… just help me._

Jace perched on the edge of his chair, looking down at Sebastian's body lying motionless on one of the infirmary beds. _Clary is in there_, he thought as he looked down at his closed eyes, his white-blonde hair splayed across the pillow. He brought his knees up to his chin and sat curled in a ball for a few minutes, just watching as Sebastian's chest rose and fell, knowing that Clary was the living force behind each of his movements. His eyes flickered up from Sebastian's face and found Clary's body on the next bed over.

She was surrounded by a glowing white force, and looked like Snow White encased in her glass coffin. His mouth dried up as he watched Brother Zachariah lean over her, resting his hand on her forehead and drawing a twisting rune between her collarbones. Her eyelids flickered slightly, but the eyes beneath them were not the rich summery green of Clary Fray. Instead they remained the smoky black pits of Lilith, the demon eyes that would bore to your very soul and grasp at any smidge of happiness you possessed.

Jace's heart stopped froze in dread as her eyes closed again and Brother Zachariah took a step back, his stele resting in his fingers. What if they couldn't do anything to help her? What if Clary was Sebastian forever, and Lilith was Clary?

"Clary." Jocelyn's voice croaked as she pushed her way into the infirmary, dropping her travelling cloak on the floor and moving to stand awkwardly between the two beds. She had been informed, of course, but her eyes glittered with confusion. "Clary?"

Jace pointed down at Sebastian with his eyebrows raised. "In here."

Jocelyn's mouth dried up and she fell to her knees, stopped from falling further only by Brother Zachariah's hand. _Calm yourself, Jocelyn. Jonathon is dead- it is simply his body now. There is nothing more to fear from him_.

"But my daughter- is in there. Is inside of him. He's evil. She'll change, I know it… Oh god… I can't lose them both…" Her phone rang in her pocket and she fished it out, sniffing as she answered the call. "No Luke… I don't… She's fine, I think… I'll phone you back." She dropped her phone onto the floor as she hung up, and put her head into her hands. "What do we do?"

_We- the other brothers as well as myself and Jace- are searching for a method that would sort this situation without causing harm to either Clary or Sebastian. The sooner we achieve this the better, but as yet we are struggling to find an instance in which this kind of thing has happened before._

Jocelyn gulped and nodded her head somewhat numbly, her gaze flickering between Sebastian and Clary, then up to Jace and Brother Zachariah. "Then… what do I do?"

_I'm afraid that waiting is all that can be done for you, dear Jocelyn. There are options that remain- such as hunting down the vampire Simon Lewis and interviewing him about the moment he took down Sebastian- though I expect he is busy with the matter of Alec Lightwood. Alternatively I'm sure Maryse is willing to offer you a room here so that you may be close to your daughter, and near to her should our solution arise._

She nodded once more and pushed herself to her feet, wiping her cheeks and eyes with the backs of her hands. "Very well. Do you, by any chance, have the address of Simon's apartment?"

Alec turned on the shower and let the water run warm, then got in and stood under the stream as the hot water flowed over his skin, sending rivers of dirty and bloody water twisting down the drain. As the mud and the blood washed away, he took in the true enormity of his situation. The runes that had snaked over his skin had now faded to the white marks of old scars, and though this was proof enough that he had left the Nephilim world behind, he still could not quite believe that he was no longer a shadowhunter.

He sat down in the shower cubicle and let the water pound his back as he stared at the wall, letting everything sink in. Jace, the Institute, his mother, Isabelle- even Idris. He was forever tied to the clan now, with Simon and Maureen acting as some kind of messed-up parental team, an intense allergy to sunlight and life-long ban from every church on the globe. Sighing, he hauled himself to his feet and clambered out of the shower, drying himself off with one of Jordan's towels and heading back into the sitting room- where Simon was lying on the sofa with a games controller in his hand.

"What about all these 'vampire responsibilities' I'm supposed to be learning about?" Alec muttered, as he pushed Simon's legs off the sofa and flopped down beside him, picking up the second controller and putting the game into two-player mode

"Bullshit." Simon replied, taking a swig from a glass full of blood while he waited for the game to load. "You want some?" He nodded at his glass, and then raised his eyebrow at Alec's disgusted-looking face.

"No thanks, still full. Listen- do you think Magnus…" He stopped talking and his eyes widened as the orange sky outside the windows brightened a few shades, and the first rays of the sun began to poke their way through the clouds. "Do you think he'll still love me? After everything?" Alec felt really stupid to be asking relationship advice from Simon- it was _Simon_ after all. But still, he'd managed to get with Izzy, hadn't he?

Simon put his controller down and got up to pull the black-out curtains across the windows, blocking out the sunlight as Alec's fair skin began to blister. "I don't know man, it's different in a way. You screwed up big time with that whole Camille thing…" "I… Will he ever let that go?"

"Alec. _Seriously_." The game finished loading and Simon picked up his controller again, making his character run into the thick of a battlefield and leaving Alec's figure in his wake. "You guys have the rest of eternity to figure this out. So chill- you've got all the time in the world, and Raphael says we have to build up some kind of emotional connection to break your pull towards Maureen. I figure that's the most important matter, so put your feet up and let's play."

Jocelyn pulled the hood of her cloak up as she marched from the Institute, trying to hail a taxi to get at least slightly closer to Simon's apartment. For a moment she thought she was in luck, but the yellow cab merely swerved towards her to splash in a puddle, soaking her to the skin, before roaring off into the early hours of the morning. Shivering, she began the slow walk through the city to find the address Jace had written on an old 'Get Well Soon' card he'd found under one of the beds.

She had almost reached the address when she felt a cool breeze on the back of her neck. She lifted her hand to find that her hood had fallen down, and tried to pull it up again- but was met with a cold resistance. Whipping around, she drew a seraph blade and stele from her belt and narrowed her eyes, trying to spot what it was that was following her. "Boo." The voice came from behind her again and she spun on her heel, her blade extended. Her hand felt bathed in a tub of ice water as the blade sliced through thin air, and out of the mist the figure of a teenage boy emerged. His white hair glowed in the orange morning sun, his skin maintaining the transparency of the ghostly spirit he had become. He grinned, his white lips parting to reveal two rows of sharp-looking teeth, his eyes glinting maleficently. "Hello, mother."


	19. Chapter 18

Jocelyn's mouth dropped open and she dropped her weapons in shock, stammering as Sebastian picked them up and flung them over his shoulder and into the gutter. "You're dead. You're not really here. You can't be."

"Well the first part was right. The second… not so much. I'm dead, most certainly. I'm a ghost, though, so you're out of luck if you thought I was gone from your life. Ghosts usually have some kind of unfinished business that tethers them to the world… in my case I think it's probably that my dear little sister is trapped inside my body and is keeping it alive, henceforth keeping me here. I don't mind though. I'm not the weak little spirit she was, oh no. I'm angry, I have power. Yeah, that's right. I get all the perks of a ghost- walking through walls, invisibility and haunting people… but I get the bonuses that you guys have, too. I can touch things. Pick things up. I can interact with the living." His eyes flickered as Jocelyn took a step backwards, so that her spine was pressed to the black railings of the fence behind her. "I can kill people."

He laughed as Jocelyn took off down the street, her feet pounding against the wet pavement. _No. It's not him. You're just tired, stressed. You're okay. It'll be okay_. She reached Simon's building and pounded the buzzer for his apartment with her fist as Sebastian swaggered up behind her, her seraph blade clutched in his hand. Sobbing, she hammered on the glass door until it shattered, and she leapt through into the hallway, ripping her cloak on a shard of glass still sticking from the frame. Sebastian stepped through after her, not even having to worry about her risk of injury. Jocelyn slipped on the smashed glass at her feet and fell onto the tiled ground, cutting her hands as she landed and rolling onto her front.

She scrambled away from the glass, falling twice and cutting her face and knees as she reached the stairs, leaving a trail of blood behind her as she took them two at a time. She reached the first landing and withdrew the address from her pocket again, flicking over it with her eyes as Sebastian's footsteps pounded on the concrete. Two more flights. She ran again, her hands stinging as she grabbed at the walls and hauled herself along with the banister. No matter how fast she moved, Sebastian was always right on her heels, a malicious grin plastered on his face and her blade glinting in his hand.

Finally she reached Simon's floor, and almost fell once more in her haste to reach his door. She hammered on the wood and heard shouting from inside, the sudden silence and shuffling noises she knew too well as someone reluctant to answer. Sebastian glimmered as he stood behind her and grabbed her shoulder, whipping her around to face him. "You can run, mother, but you will never win." His eyes narrowed to slits as his lips thinned over his grin, and Jocelyn screamed out at the top of her lungs.

"Get away from me you monster! Leave me alone!" But he merely grinned and rested the point of the knife above her chest, pricking the skin beneath her blouse. "Please! Let me in! Help!" She shouted once more, and the door against her back swung open. Sebastian fell forwards with the sudden movement, but his hand had slipped and now the blade simply embedded itself in Jocelyn's middle. The boy who had opened the door watched with wide, terrified eyes as Sebastian gave a little wave and vanished into thin air, and Jocelyn crumpled onto his threshold.

"Alec!" He shouted, bending down to grab her under the armpits and drag her inside. "It's okay, you're okay." Simon muttered, ripping off his shirt and bunching it into a ball, which he pressed against her stomach as the flesh bubbled and burnt. "You're okay." Alec skidded across the carpet and closed the front door, looking down at Jocelyn as his fangs slid from their sheaths.

"Magnus." Alec said, fumbling for his mobile phone and pressing down the number 1 until it began to ring. "Magnus."

"Alec?"

"Simon's place. Now. Right now. It's Jocelyn."

"What?"

"No time." And Alec hung up, his stomach heaving as the smell of fresh blood entered his nostrils. "Okay, Seraph blades… this shouldn't happen." He peeled back the edge of Simon's shirt and looked at the ghastly wound underneath. "When they're not 'turned on', as such, they're just a dull tube of metal. Even if he managed to stab her with that, it shouldn't be… burning, like this…" He pulled the door open again and grabbed the blade from where it had clattered on the ground.

Turning back into the apartment, he threw the blade at the floor in anger. "It's not a seraph blade. It used to be- that much is true- but it's been changed. Like… like the demon blade, that Clary was hit with. Same kind of thing, different magic… meant to kill slowly and painfully, knowing Sebastian. That's what he'd want, I'm sure of it." Simon closed his eyes and pressed harder on the wound, muttering reassuring words to Jocelyn when she cried out in pain, and Alec continued to talk. "But Sebastian's dead. How is it he was just standing on our doorstep?"

"Angry spirit. Solid." Jocelyn gasped, her eyes scrunched up against the pain. "Tied to his body- Clary…" Simon's eyes hardened as he gripped onto Jocelyn's hand and held her tight against him.

The door to their apartment flew open and in stepped Magnus, whipping off his gloves as he knelt beside Jocelyn and threw Simon's bloody t-shirt to one side. His eyes flickered up to Alec momentarily as green sparks flew from his fingers and sunk into Jocelyn's skin, first stopping the bubbling and bleeding, then transitioning to red as he silently worked on healing the wound. His shoulders began to sag and his back curved as he worked, tiredness setting in. Without so much as thinking about it, Alec knelt beside the warlock and slipped his hand into his, giving his energy so that Magnus could work.

When Magnus had finished, Simon scooped up the unconscious Jocelyn and carried her into his room, laying her down on the low bed and pulling the covers up to her neck. He was about to step back into the living room when he heard Magnus and Alec's low rumbling voices- so instead he turned to the window and clambered out of the fire escape, twisting the golden faerie ring on his finger.

"Alec."

"Magnus."

"I…"

"I'm sorry. I was childish, and I didn't think, and…"

"No. I'm sorry. I should have seen the reason behind your motives. I shouldn't have been so… short with you." He raised his arm and cupped Alec's head with his hand, pulling him towards his body. "You know…" His eyes travelled over Alec's skin, tracing the white lines of the runes he so sorely missed and eventually settling on his face. "Your eyes." Magnus grabbed Alec's face with haste and turned it from side to side, looking deep into his eyes as dread filled his chest, as the realisation of everything sunk in.

"What?" Alec hurried to the mirror beside the door and looked hastily at his reflection. "What's wrong?"

Magnus' chest squeezed and his stomach turned as he looked into Alec's face. Just a few hours ago he had been on death's door, his face swollen with demon venom and his blood mixing with Maureen's. He stepped back towards him and wrapped his arms around him, pulling Alec right into his body and burrowing his face into Alec's neck. "It doesn't matter. You're still you." Tears pricked at his eyes as he rocked backwards and forwards on the balls of his feet, the fledgling clutched in his arms. "That's what I realise now. All my life, all I've been waiting for and all I've ever wanted. It's you."


	20. Chapter 19

"Jace? Listen, I found Simon. Alec's doing okay but I didn't even need to ask Simon about Jo- Sebastian. He came and found me. Listen, ring me back when you get this, it's really important. I'm lying low at Simon's place- something happened and I can't leave just yet- but I've got information on Sebastian that's probably vital to helping Clary so just… call me back, okay?" Jocelyn tucked her phone back into her pocket and looked up at Simon. "How did we end up like this?" Her voice sounded so full of hopelessness that Simon's unbeating heart twinged in his chest.

"Like what?" Simon had just returned from a mid-day haunt around New York, a mini-quest in which he tried to hunt down Sebastian, but to no avail. Alec and Magnus were sitting in his room, 'talking things out'. "Because if you're asking how I ended up as a vampire and you ended up back in the shadowhunter world up to your waist in shit then I'll be honest, I have no idea." He opened the fridge and walked back across the kitchen, handing Jocelyn a bottle of water then pouring himself a shot of blood to keep himself going.

"I tried so hard to protect Clary from all of this, and now look where are." She dragged her fingers through her hair, and then wound them in the hem of the t-shirt she was wearing- which Simon had so graciously lent her given that her own shirt had been destroyed. "She's stuck in the institute, with a demon living inside her body and her soul stuck in the body of her _evil_ older brother… Nobody knows of a way to help her and there's a pretty good chance I'll never get her back…" She took a sip of water and rested her head on her hand, watching a bead of condensation slide down the edge of the plastic bottle.

Simon took the seat across from her at the table and was about to try and reassure her when her phone began to ring. She fumbled for it in her jeans pocket, pulling it out and pressing 'answer' after only barely registering Jace's name on the screen. "Jocelyn? What's the news?" His voice sounded crackly and disconnected, but it was him alright.

"Jace? Listen. Sebastian's not dead. Well, he is, but he's a ghost. And you know how angry spirits can sort of solidify? They can become more than a spirit but not quite human? It's like that. And he's figured out what it is that's keeping him tied to the earth- it's his body. Clary jumped in there before it could fully die, so it's in this constant state of near-death. To kill Sebastian- to get rid of him once and for all, we'll have to destroy his body. Salt it, burn it, the lot. I don't care how superstitious it is, I want him gone." Jace nodded on the other end of the line, Brother Zachariah standing nearby with a notebook in which to write everything down.

"So he can walk, talk, interact with everyone like a normal human- except he can also walk through walls and the rest of that ghostly crap?"

"Yeah, and that's not all. I ran into him on the street. He knows how powerful he is. And he can interact with people. Properly. He tried to kill me." Jace sat in silence and listened in horror as she retold her story, glancing down at the tiny cuts on her hands as she did so. Alec had given her an iratze earlier, but its power was not as strong as it would be if he were still a shadowhunter, so they were taking much longer than usual to heal. "Clary? Are you any closer to a solution?"

Jace closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling the pain of too many sleepless nights as it sunk in. "Not yet. We're working on it, honestly we are. I want her back as much as you do."

"Good- we can't get rid of Sebastian while Clary's still in there." Jace clicked his tongue in understanding, said his farewells and hung up. Jocelyn dropped her phone onto the kitchen table and took another swig of water. As she put the bottle back down on the table, Simon's bedroom door swung open and Alec and Magnus stepped back into the living room.

"Jocelyn. You're looking much better." Magnus smiled, and hooked his fingers with Alec's. "We've decided that Alec is going to move in with me. He can't stay here forever and he can't go back to the institute..."

Alec stepped forward, letting Magnus' hand slip through his grasp as he approached Simon and leaned on the kitchen table, his eyes alight with fire. "There was something we wanted to ask you. To become a daylighter- do you think I could do it?" Simon rubbed his forehead and looked up at Alec. His black hair was tousled- he didn't want to think about what they may have been doing in his room- and his eyes were sparkling with a kind of determination he had only before seen in a fight.

"It's… Alec. You need to understand- when this happened… We were on board Valentine's ship. He'd tried to kill me- almost succeeded too. Jace came in, saw me almost completely drained of blood and allowed me to drink his. His blood has that freaky angel power, so when my blood started to regenerate itself it kept that quality that Jace's had. I mean, we could do it but… It's really risky. You'd have to be drained of blood- like… almost completely. Then you'd have to drink that of either Jace or Clary, and we'd have to get them to agree to it first, of course. There's no guarantee that it would even turn you into a daylighter…" Alec's eyes still gleamed, and he shook his head.

"That's all I need to know. If they'll do it- if Jace or Clary will help me… I'll risk it. I will." Simon smiled a little at Alec, and then looked up at Magnus standing a few feet away.

"Jocelyn's told Jace everything she knows about Sebastian. We need to destroy Sebastian's body in order to get rid of his spirit, and we can't do that until Clary's good and out of there. Is there anything…?"

Magnus' skin greyed as he looked down at Simon, then at Alec and finally at Jocelyn. "There's one way I can think of. It's not pretty, it might not even work and none of you are going to like it. I'll have to speak to Brother Zachariah to see if it's worth it but… it's probably time we looked into dark magic."

Alec whipped his head around and stared at him with wide eyes. "You cannot be serious."

Magnus looked down at the floor in shame. "I have grown to love you and your friends. No matter how much of a pain in the neck you have all been… If this is what it will take to help them then I am more than willing to break the Law. It's not as if the Clave are making any effort to help…"

Simon stood up, knocking his blood-stained shot glass over as he did so. He staggered the few steps to Magnus, then wrapped his arms tightly around the man's chest and rested his chin on his shoulder. "Thank you." He stepped back, slightly ashamed of his forwardness, but Magnus said nothing.

"The sun is still up. I cannot leave with Alec for another ten hours at the least- what do you guys do for fun around here?"

Jace looked up from Brother Zachariah's notebook and sighed, leaning back in his chair. "I'm stumped." He exhaled, pushing the notebook back across the table to the silent brother and rubbing his eyes. "Look, I'm gonna sleep for a while- maybe I can make more sense of this when I wake up… do you honestly-honestly- think we can work this one out?" He got to his feet and pushed his chair under the table, leaning on the wooden-backed seat as he awaited his answer.

_Honestly, I have no idea. I do hope, of course, that a solution will be found. However as the hours tick by I sense that Clary is fading- she has been apart from her body for too long. Her physical closeness will of course help but… I fear that if we do not achieve a conclusion soon then we will be unable to tie her soul and her body together again. Evil is a lot more powerful than good, Jace. You of all people should understand that._

Jace nodded and turned his back on the library, casting a quick glance back at the fire as he walked. Life without Clary. He didn't think he could cope without her, now. After all this time he'd gotten used to having her around… _No. I'll find a way. Even if it means hunting down and killing Sebastian myself. I'll do it. I'll save her._


	21. Chapter 20

_Mom? I know you're out there, you're around somewhere. I heard you. You wouldn't ever leave me, right? Listen… I'm stuck, somewhere. Its super dark, and I can't move and I'm scared, more scared than ever in my life. I don't… I don't know if I'll ever find my way out of here, you know? Like I'll be stuck here for all eternity. I've been here for so long and now… I'm just tired. I want to just let go, but it feels like if I do that I'll never come back. I miss you, mom. It feels like so long since I've seen your face… And Luke… how is he holding up? I know you can't hear me, because if you could then you'd reply, right? But… I'm so scared, and this is the only thing that's holding me here. The thoughts that if I stick this through, if I get myself out or someone figures out where I am and helps me… everything will turn out alright again, right?_

Magnus strode in through the doors of the institute, swinging his arms at his sides as he turned in to the infirmary and strode up to where Brother Zachariah was sat, his head over a book. "I've got an idea. It's not bulletproof and it's really risky, but it's a plan. Want to hear?"

_Spill the beans then._

"This whole thing started because Clary's soul was separated from her body by a demon blade, right? It was impregnated with dark magic?"

_Yes. That's why it's proving so difficult to find a solution. Nothing of the sort has ever happened before._

"In a way, it has. We could, in theory, use the same blade- or at least a similar one, you know what I mean- to sever Clary's soul from Sebastian's body. Same goes for separating Lilith from Clary's body- though an angel blade might do a better job. If we could set up some kind of block, we could get Clary's soul back into her body, and transfer Lilith into Sebastian's. With the right kind of magic, we could destroy Lilith and Sebastian in one shot."

Brother Zachariah raised his head and removed his hood, ruffling his hair with his hands and pressing his hands over his eyes. _You think so?_

"Well, as a last resort it's worth something of a shot, don't you think? If we don't find anything else… before it's too late… then we might as well give it a go. Right?"

Brother Zachariah rolled his shoulders and pulled the hood of his cloak back up to hide his face. _Yes, I think so. I'll have Jace continue searching for a cure while I look through the archives for stuff about Angel and Demon blades- I was looking through them just the other day so it shouldn't be too difficult…yes. I believe you could be onto something…_

Jace took the steps to Simon's apartment two at a time. Smashed door, blood on the walls? What had gone on here? Why wasn't the place swarming with cops? He reached Simon's door and pounded three times with his fist, almost flying through the door on the fourth bang as it swung open before him.

"Jace?"

He looked up, his blonde hair falling out of his shining gold eyes as he looked Alec in the face. "Your eyes. They're different. Darker."

Alec turned to the mirror and examined his face once more. In a way he supposed Jace was right- the colour was slightly off, more purple than blue. "I guess it's the blood…" He mumbled, turning around to face his friend, jealousy pumping through him as he noted the black runes decorating his skin.

"It's true then." Jace said, stepping further into the apartment and walking around Alec in a circle. "You've left."

"Not out of choice." Alec said stubbornly, his feelings hurt. He had expected a warm reunion- not… whatever this was.

"Last time I saw you, your cheek was the size of an orange and you were barely breathing. You were on your deathbed. I…" He bit his lip and looked away, shaking his head. His hands shook with a mix of anger and fear as he unfastened the buttons on his shirt and pulled it to one side to reveal the scar on his chest where the parabatai rune used to be. "It hurt. A lot. I felt it when it happened. It was like I was dying alongside you." His voice cracked as he buttoned the shirt up again and looked into his friend's eyes. "It was like… when I lost you… I'd lost myself too."

Alec's face crumpled and he fell into his friend's arms. "Jace…" He shook his head and buried his face in Jace's shoulder. "I missed you, so much."

"Dude I don't think it's even been 24 hours yet…" he mumbled, patting Alec awkwardly on the back as he drew back.

"Regardless. I… I have a favour, I need to ask you."

"Funny enough, so do a couple of other people. I've been run off my feet looking for a cure for Clary…" Alec shook his head.

"It's different. Rather selfish, actually."

"You want to be like Simon. I can't see why you'd want to be like that rat but I get where you're coming from with the whole sunlight thing. Really though? You're shacking up with him now?"

"No, no. I'm moving in with Magnus tonight but that's kind of the thing. I miss it already. The sun. I can't be locked in one place all day, shut in the darkness. I want to be a daylighter. I'd ask Clary seeing as you've already done it once but…"

"Shut up, Alec. I'm your parabatai. Your brother. I don't know why you even bothered asking because let's face it you know I'm going to say yes. Are you sure though? That this is what you want? That it will even work?"

"An eternity is not worth living without you, Jace Lightwood. I… One day, I'll lose you, but this way your blood will stay with me forever. It's like a blood-brothers pact, only… you know, I'm immortal."

Jace shook his head. "This is so dumb. You really want to do it? Do you even know what kind of state Simon was in when I got to him? How are we even going to do something like that here in the middle of New York anyway?"

Alec shrugged, and Simon stepped out of the bathroom, drying his hair with a towel. "Let's face it, with the mess Jocelyn made outside we can hardly stay here much longer. Her glamour will wear off eventually and the cops will be all over the place. Use the bathroom- if we're going to mess around with the mundanes we might as well do it in style."

Alec grinned, then turned around to face Jace. "What do you say?"

"Shit, go on then. Bloody hell, you've not changed much have you? I almost feel sorry for that nerd having to live with you for the rest of eternity." he pointed at Simon, then shrugged off his jacket and threw it over the arms of the sofa. "You just don't give up, do you? Right." He rolled his shirt sleeves up to his elbows and rubbed his hands together, rolling his head across his shoulders and cracking his knuckles. "Let's do this."


	22. Chapter 21

Alec stood in the bathtub in his boxer shorts, and Jace stood before him with a diamond-sharp blade clutched in his fingers. His hands shaking, he brought the knife up to Alec's forearm and pressed it into the crook of his elbow, sucking in a breath. "Go on." Alec hissed through his teeth, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides.

A bead of red blood glistened under the knife and Jace relaxed his shoulders, pulling away and dropping the knife to the floor. "No." He shook his head as he backed away, looking around the bathroom and thinking about everything that could go wrong. No, he couldn't kill his best friend. "I can't do it Alec. I can't watch you die again…"

"I won't die, Jace."

"You might!" He shouted, kicking the knife to the other side of the bathroom and turning to lean on the sink, watching Alec's reflection in the mirror as he climbed out of the bath and put his hand on Jace's shoulder. "I know you'll be miserable, living a life only in darkness… no more runes, no more weapons. No more saving people. I can't do it though, I won't." He turned and leant back against the sink, folding his arms across his chest and looking up into Alec's eyes. "I can give you my blood, Alec, but I can't be the one to drain you of yours. I won't ever hurt you, not like this. If it was to save your life and I had to cut a bullet from your skin, fair enough. I'd do it, you know I would. But this… it's sick. There's too many things that could go wrong and if they did… if you died… I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Iz, and Maryse- what would they think?"

"You could tell them I told you to do it…" He was pleading now, his hands clutching at Jace's wrist.

Jace shook his head, snatching his arm away from Alec and storming from the room. "I would rather die than kill you, Alec Lightwood."

Jocelyn strode back up the steps to the institute. It had been a long and tiresome walk alongside Jace, given that neither of them had particularly been in the mood to talk. However there was something about his company that reassured her- he cared for Clary just as much as she did- that much was evident. There was something else though, like everything this boy had been through the past few months had shaped him to be a new person entirely, and that this incident with Clary would be the one thing that finally defined him. Together they walked through the great doors and walked with their echoing footsteps in unison as they made their way to the infirmary. Clary was still Sebastian, and Lilith was still Clary, but now the Warlock Magnus Bane stood before them, with a blade clutched in each of his hands.

_Jace Herondale_. Brother Zachariah emerged silently from the darkness and appeared to float across the room to stand before him. _We have found a cure. It is not 100% guaranteed to work- but it is the only chance we have left. You see the blades Magnus is holding? The black blade must be used to 'kill' Sebastian. Stab him, as it were. This should release Clary's soul from his body and put her back into the kind of state she was in before entering it. As his body would then have been tainted by dark magic, it would then repel Clary's soul instead of attracting it. This in itself is probably why Clary could not enter her body before._

"So how is she supposed to enter it now?"

_Ah, this is the clever bit. Clary's body must then be wounded with the other blade- an Angelic blade as opposed to a Demonic blade. The good will overpower the evil, Lilith will be cast from Clary's body and be attracted to Sebastian's. I will then erect the same sort of seraph shield around the pair before they can cause us harm, and Clary's soul should then be attracted back into her body by the 'good' force._

Jace stood still in shock. Yes, it certainly appeared that this plan would work. It had sense behind it, but nothing could ever really be that simple. "What's the catch?"

_The same person must conduct both actions- must stab both Sebastian and Clary. And it can't be just anyone, else we would have done it by now. It needs to be someone who has been touched by both an angel and a demon- and you fit the bill perfectly. You were resurrected by the Angel Raziel, and you have been possessed by the demon Lilith. You have the elements of good and evil required to use both of the blades._

Jace almost turned on his heel and stormed from the room. "No way. I just got out of stabbing Alec and now you want me to kill my girlfriend? No way."

"Stabbing Alec?" Magnus tilted his head to one side in curiosity.

"This whole daylighter plan he has lodged in his mind. It isn't going to work, I know it. Yet he still wants me to go through with it. I'm not going to stand there and watch him bleed to death on the off chance that it might actually work."

Magnus shook his head. "Silly boy. I agreed to it only because it might make him more accepting of his new fate but…" He closed his eyes for a moment, then raised his head again, renewed. "Come, this will be different. Perhaps."

Jace looked at Jocelyn for support. Surely she would object? Surely she could not stand to watch him stab her daughter? However Jocelyn had vanished. She no longer stood at Jace's side, nor was she anywhere in the infirmary. Jace poked his head around the side of the door, but almost missed her. As it was, she was crouched on the floor just outside the entrance to the infirmary, curled in a ball with her head in her hands. "Do it Jace." She wailed from behind her hands. He knelt beside her and pulled them from her face, tucking her hair back behind her ears.

"Do you really want me to? Do you really think this will work?" He asked, holding onto her wrists as she fell apart. She nodded as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"I've always been so strong and now look at me… I get back into the shadowhunter world and everything I thought was gone, all the dangers I thought I'd left behind… they just come up and pelt me with all their force, like they're making up for lost time…"

Jace bit his lip, standing up and pulling her with him. "You can't fall apart like this. You need to be there for Clary when she wakes up. And she will. She will wake up, you hear me? I'm going to go in there and do this _thing_, and then everything will be okay. Right?" He shook her wrists. "Right?"

She nodded, her chest heaving with sobs as she tried in vain to hold herself together. Jace pulled her after him and handed her to Magnus, who held her hand as she cried into her shoulder. He stepped forward, rolling up his sleeves, and grabbed the two knives from the cabinet between the two beds.

"Sebastian first, right?" He looked at Brother Zachariah for confirmation, then stepped over to the bed and raised the black blade above his body. "Where?"

_Aim for the stomach on them both- the bellybutton if it's easier. Injuries here are easy to fix, in comparison to those of the heart or lungs._

"Very well then." And he brought the knife down.


	23. Chapter 22

A red rose of blood blossomed on Sebastian's stomach, staining fabric of his tunic with its sticky wetness. Jace let his fingers unfurl from the knife as he dropped it to the floor, breathing heavily. Out of all the demons he had killed, all the times over the years he had stabbed someone through with a knife or decapitated them with an angel blade, this felt the most real. Sebastian didn't melt away like the demons, didn't dissolve into dust or ichor and vanish in a gust of wind.

He took a deep breath. _There's no going back now_. Brother Zachariah clapped his hands and the shield surrounding Clary's body lifted. Jace raised the enchanted seraph blade and felt his heart drop as he hovered above Clary's stomach, his fingers tensing around the handle of the blade. Jocelyn gripped the covers of the bed she was sat on with trembling fingers, gripping the thin fabric of the duvet cover with such force that her knuckles had turned white. But, even as Jace hesitated, Clary's eyes flew open and Lilith sprung off her bed.

She swiped the blade from his hand and knocked him backwards, so that his head hit the metal frame of Sebastian's bed with an almighty clang. His eyes fluttered shut for a moment and Brother Zachariah swooped in, spinning elegantly in mid-air and bringing his staff down on Lilith's head with all the force he could muster. She stood dizzily beside the bed for a second, then collapsed sideways onto the floor. Jace scrabbled forwards, his fingers closing tightly around the blade, and sunk it into Clary's torso without so much as a second thought. _No, this wasn't Clary anymore. It was Lilith._

The infirmary seemed to fill with an impenetrable cold, as Clary rose up from Sebastian's body and Lilith from Clary's. The white mist mixed with the black smoke, and for a moment the air in the institute was nothing but grey. Jace knelt beside Clary's body with the blade still held in his hands, his head pounding and his elbows shaking as he struggled to keep himself upright. Her flaming red hair was all he could see, her closed eyelids flickering in the fog. He reached out cautiously, falling backwards onto one elbow as he lifted the other off the ground and took hold of her hand. "Come back to me Clary, please."

Her eyes slowly opened, and as the fog cleared Jace's heart slowed, a smile creeping onto his lips. "Clary." He grinned, throwing himself almost on top of her and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. His hair fell into her face as he rocked her back and forth, only stopping when he heard her yelp out in pain. "Clary?" His face paled as he looked at her white skin, her mouth falling open in shock as she held onto her stomach with her hands and then lifted them up, seeing her porcelain fingers stained with blood. "Shit." He whispered, gently tucking his hands under her body and lifting her back onto the bed as she squinted against the increasing light.

"Jace?" She whimpered, her fingers tearing at her shirt as she tried to avoid the pain. "What did you do?" Her voice narrowed to a whisper as her eyes moved away from his face and moved down her own body, seeing the huge gash in her stomach. He could almost hear the betrayal in her voice as she murmured his name one last time. "Jace?" Before he could reply, her eyes had drifted shut again and her trembling hands had fallen still at her sides. Jace whipped his stele from his pocket and pushed aside her shirt, pressing the tip of the thin pen to her skin and cursing the pain of the iratze rune as he scrawled it onto her skin.

He felt a cool hand touch his shoulder, then the pressure as Brother Zachariah pushed him to one side and pulled the curtains shut around Clary's bed. Magnus was standing over the other bed, the glass-like cage now secure over Sebastian's bleeding body. Jocelyn had lain down on the bed and now remained perfectly still, her eyes looking up at the tall ceiling as she tried to blink away her tears. "You did it, Jace." She murmured, her hands tucked behind her head. "You brought her back."

Alec knelt in the bathtub with Jace's blade clutched in his trembling fingers. He held the point against the crook of his elbow and hissed as the metal penetrated his skin, dragging the knife down his wrist and watching calmly as a waterfall of bright red blood cascaded from his outstretched arm.

"Alec?" Simon leant against the locked door, his hand raised to knock on the wood. "Jace left ages ago. What are you doing in there?"

Alec was shaking now, as he raised the knife again with his bleeding arm and drew a matching red gash down the other. He screamed out as the metal sliced through his skin and the blood began to drip into the bath. Suddenly Simon was hammering on the door. "Alec! Alec open the door!" Alec shook his head as he dropped the knife, grinning as it splashed in the river of blood pouring from his arms.

"No. I can't do that, Simon." His head felt foggy and light; and he leaned back against the side of the bathtub as his blood trickled in a steady flow over his fingers and down the drain. Simon hammered on the door once more then silenced, turning to the front room for something to hammer the door down with.

He returned with one of the chairs from the kitchen, and began to smash the wooden seat into the door with all the force he could muster. The wood splintered and the wooden panel of the door flew inwards, and he reached into the bathroom with his arm wrapped in his sleeve and unfastened the lock from the inside, running into the room and looking at Alec in wide-eyed horror. "Alec! Are you crazy? What are you doing?"

"Jace couldn't do it… he couldn't drain me. But he said I could have his blood… so I figured I'd do it instead… Where is Jace, anyway?"

"You dumbass!" Simon shouted, running to the bath and pulling Alec upright, then wrapping some of Jordan's white towels around the gaping wounds on his forearms. "Magnus phoned him up to go straight to the institute- something to do with a cure. He's not here, Alec."

Alec's face paled as realisation dawned. He looked down at himself- his black boxers were sodden with blood, which had dripped onto and run down his torso in streams. He pushed himself up and out of the bath, then collapsed onto the floor. "Perhaps I should have explained that as a fledgling, your healing abilities aren't exactly up to par…" Simon grabbed a washcloth from the edge of the bath, filling his mouth with water. He gargled for a while, then spat the cool water onto the washcloth, rushing over to Alec and taking away the first of the now blood-stained towels. "Shitface." He mumbled as he rubbed the water over Alec's cuts, healing the cuts into barely visible lines as the venom sunk into his skin.

He moved onto the other arm, looking at Alec's lowered gaze with wonder. "You knew he was gone, didn't you?"

Alec looked up, his dark eyes flashing light for a moment before dulling to their new purple shade. "I thought that perhaps if he knew I needed him, he would come back for me."

Simon dropped the bloody washcloth onto the bathroom floor and slid his fingers between those of Alec's clenched fist. "You haven't let him go, have you?"

Alec pulled his hands away from Simon's and held onto his elbows, curling in on himself like a child trapped in the body of a young adult. "The parabatai rune. It's gone. It's like I've lost this huge part of me and I know I'll never get it back. I feel empty inside, all the time."

Simon shuffled awkwardly on his feet, then dropped to the floor so that he was sitting cross legged across from Alec. "Magnus loves you, you know. Really loves you. He's been alive for over 300 years and in all that time he's never come across someone he loves more than you. As a mortal, he would have lost you in what would be a fraction of his life. But now, you can be together forever. Count yourself lucky, Alec," Simon pushed himself to his feet again and yanked open the door, angrily shutting it behind him before sticking his head through the missing panel to finish his sentence. "One day, I'll have to watch Clary die. That day could be today, it could be in a week or a month, in a year or a decade or in a century, but one day it will happen. I'll watch her have kids and buy a house and become a grandparent, and I will never be the one to give her any of that because I can't. One day I'll have to leave. It'll become obvious- who and what I am. Rebecca… my mom. I have to leave them behind forever, before they too succumb to the pities of age and crumble into ashes and dust. The immortal life is a long one, but it is difficult. Nobody ever told you this would be easy, but at least you have a companion to help you through it." He let go of the door and turned away, his shoulders sagging as he sunk onto the sofa and buried his face in his arms.


	24. Chapter 23

Clary lay quivering as Jace gently brushed a damp washcloth over her stomach, slowly removing the drying puddle of blood as he re-dipped the cloth in the tub of warm water and rinsed it out. Clary's eyes were flickering beneath her lids as he worked, beads of sweat dripping down her forehead as, as Brother Zachariah had put it, "the good within battled the evil without". Jace didn't exactly know what it meant, but it sounded good so when Isabelle poked her head around the edge of the curtains, that was what he told her.

"Well… I'm glad she's back." She said as she dropped onto the bed at Clary's feet, bringing her knees up to her chin and poking her toes over the edge of the mattress. "I mean, it was awful that we actually believed Lilith was her but… you, moping around trying to find a cure for days on end. You would have done that for the rest of your life, given half the chance."

Jace smiled from behind his hair and dropped the stained cloth back into the bowl, placing it on the bedside table and wiping his hands off on his trousers before taking hold of Clary's. He absently played with her fingers as she slept, curling each one up on itself and straightening it out again, running his thumb over the lines on her palm and following each of the bones on the back of her hand with his middle finger. Isabelle dropped her legs from the bed and stood up, giving Jace a reassuring smile. "Maryse and Jocelyn will come back from the Silent City after the trial and he'll be dead, alright? Lilith, Sebastian? All gone."

"I don't think so." Isabelle's head snapped up, the whip unfurling from her wrist as she grabbed a dagger from her belt. At first only a cloud of dark mist hovered before her, but out of this fuzz stepped the figure of a pale boy. His slender arms poked from his tunic, his white hair floating slightly in a breeze that didn't exist. "Remind me to thank Magnus. Putting Lilith in my body? Excellent idea. She'll not give it up without a fight- and I'd never ask her to. No, she's very welcome to my body. Living like this? It's great, is it not?"

Isabelle lunged forwards with her whip, but it curled around thin air and came back to her, the electrum flickering weakly as it curled back up her arm. "What are you?" Her eyes narrowed, her knife raised as Jace slipped his own knife from his ankle sheath and stepped up to join her at the foot of Clary's bed.

"I'm a ghost, dingus." Sebastian grinned, wiggling his fingers. "Woooo." He laughed at the sight of the two shadowhunters, their feeble weapons raised against him. "You can't kill me, guys. I'm already dead." Jace's hands moved to his belt, and he fumbled as he released a spidery black web of netting from a box secured at his back. Sebastian's eyes widened and he laughed again. "Oh? Oh you think? You really do, don't you? You think you can trap me here with that pathetic excuse for a weapon, run off to your little warlock friend for help and everything will be perfectly okay? Nah, you're wrong there for a start. You see little Nephilim, life isn't fair. Death however, is much more… yielding."

Jace's eyes widened as Sebastian put his hands behind his back and drew a familiar black blade from his back pocket. "I do wish people wouldn't just leave their weapons lying around. This one was Amatis'- just sitting there on her bedside table. Very irresponsible, you know. People might just get…" He raised the blade, his eyes glinting as he launched it across the infirmary and sunk it into Isabelle's shoulder, all too fast for even Jace to truly track his movements. "Hurt."

Alec sat with his head in his hands, his fingernails digging into his scalp as he fought the urges within him. He'd been feeling like this from the moment he'd turned, but as time had gone on it had intensified. He wondered now if his attempt to become a daylighter had been more of a suicide attempt, to rid himself of this feeling that plagued his mind. The springs of Jordan's mattress creaked under his weight as he leaned forward, clawing at his scalp even more as the pull was stepped up a notch. Quite like a young child, Alec had been sent to 'his' room to cool off, but instead was silently fuming about everything that had happened.

Finally, it got too much. He stood up from the bed and grabbed his jacket from where it had been hanging on the wardrobe door, then slid from the window and shuffled along the ledge until he reached the fire escape. He clambered down the metal steps, jumping the last few feet to the floor and landing like a cat on all fours. Straightening up, he rolled his head on his neck and cracked his knuckles._ I'm going to settle this once and for all_, he thought as he stepped off the alleyway and onto the main street.

Magnus Bane wrapped his scarf around his neck and stepped from the Institute, his work done. Brother Zachariah had taken Sebastian-slash-Lilith to the Silent City alongside Maryse and Jocelyn, and Jace and Isabelle were safely situated in the infirmary with the charge of looking after Clary. Something prickled on the back of Magnus' neck- like something wasn't quite right- but he shrugged it off and walked out onto the street, beginning a leisurely stroll across town to collect Alec from Simon's place and take him home. Upon reaching the apartment however, he noticed the place swarming with police. Cars were parked outside and webs of yellow tape crossed the windows and doors. Magnus slid his hand into his pocket as he casually turned the corner, finding a bench next to a drugstore and perching himself on the seat so he could watch what was going on from a distance. The pale face of a grim-looking policeman shone down on him from one of the windows above as Magnus hit his speed-dial for Alec.

The phone rang mercilessly without an answer, and again the feeling of something going wrong pricked the back of his neck. Hanging up, Magnus tried Simon. He answered on the second ring.

"Magnus? What's up?"

"Simon? Where are you guys? Your place is swarming with cops."

Simon stopped where he was, his mouth falling open as swarms of people swam past him in the street. "What? No."

"Yeah, crawling. Is Alec with you?" Magnus' heart was beating nineteen to the dozen inside his chest. What had he done now?

Simon was silent for a long time as dread bubbled up inside him and threatened to spew out of every available orifice. "No." He mumbled, running his hands through his hair as it hit him. "He went to his room… I left to get some air- he's a difficult fledgling to control- I thought he'd be alright on his own for just an hour until I got back."

Magnus sighed, hunching himself over on the bench. "Any idea where he might have gone off to?"

Simon looked around him as he tried to think. The mundanes continued to pass him like he wasn't there, only the occasional person glancing up into his pale face. "There's one place, one place I can really think that he'd have gone."

"Where?" Magnus held his phone between his ear and his shoulder while he filed down his nails with a diamond file conjured from some far off land.

"Maureen."


	25. Chapter 24

"You bitch." Jace looked between Isabelle and Sebastian in horror, his mouth dropping open as Isabelle plucked the knife from her arm and tossed it in her hands.

"I guess the bonus is that a curse only works once, right?" She smiled, casting the blade back in Sebastian's direction and lodging it in his thigh._ Good. He can hurt us, but he can be hurt too. This isn't impossible. _

He grunted, pulling out the blade and throwing it at Jace, who caught it between his hands just inches from his forehead. Jace whipped it right back at him, drawing a long sword from beneath Clary's bed and spinning around to face off Sebastian while Isabelle ducked and loosened her own sword from the slats of the bed.

Sebastian grinned, his tongue flickering between his lips. As Jace watched his image seemed to dissolve into mist, then reappear a few feet away with an arsenal of weapons strapped to his back. "Well shit." Jace muttered as Isabelle straightened up, a long silver sword clutched in her hands. The arm that had been stabbed was bleeding badly, a trail of blood dribbling steadily down her arm and dripping onto her clothes. "I'm pretty sure this is cheating."

"Technically Jace, he shouldn't even be here. I could give you at least three different reasons why… Shit!" Isabelle ducked a shiruken as it flew towards her head and embedded itself in the wall behind her. Another swiftly followed, and soon she was being bombarded by flying four-pointed sharpened stars. One by one she took them down, hitting them with her sword and not even flinching when she missed one and it lodged itself firmly in her stomach. Each following movement was accompanied by a grunt as she batted the stars out of the way and worked the star loose in a method she'd learnt the hard way.

Jace crept forwards while Sebastian's attention was focussed on Isabelle, and was only a few foot away when Sebastian looked down and saw him crouched and ready to fight. The second Sebastian's hands stopped throwing his weapons, Jace jumped to his feet and swung out with his sword. He caught Sebastian across the midriff, which opened in a black void for a second before healing over almost instantly. The wound in his thigh had also vanished, and Sebastian was suddenly pressed up against Jace, a knife pressing into his chest.

The odd thing was that Sebastian felt very solid, not remotely ghostlike at all. His presence was icily cold and he was quite plainly transparent, and Jace watched through Sebastian's head as Isabelle suddenly paled and crumpled to the floor, a smear of blood staining the tiles as her eyes drifted closed.

"I guess it's just you and me now, _brother_." Sebastian laughed, digging his knife further into Jace's flesh.

"I have no brother." He hissed, gasping as the knife pierced his skin and sunk inwards, Sebastian slowly twisting the handle as he forced it further into his body. "But you have a sister." He choked as he slid to the floor, and Sebastian whipped his head around in shock.

Clary stood behind him, her tangle of fever-damp red hair sticking to her head and trailing down her back. She held Isabelle's sword in her outstretched hands, her pale skin glistening with sweat as she stood her ground. "You can split me from my body and get your mistress to possess me and emotionally _torture_ me and everything else you've done to me since I bloody met you, but no. I will not let you hurt my friends and get away with it." She shouted, her arms shaking as she gripped the sword even tighter. She bit her lip and shifted her feet, shaking her head as Sebastian bent over Jace, grinning as he grabbed hold of the handle of the blade in Jace's chest and began to twist it slowely. "No, I won't let you!" Yelling, she stormed forward and swung out with the sword.

Sebastian's eyes widened as she realised what she was doing, but it was too late. He raised his hand to stop her, his mouth dropping open in an agonising scream as the shining sword collided with his neck and the blade sliced neatly through the skin and bone. His disembodied head fell to the floor with a wet thump, his mouth and eyes still open. Clary's stomach reeled as his eyes looked directly into hers, and his open mouth curled into a grim smile. "You can't kill the dead, little sis."

Clary paled as Sebastian's hands twitched and he reached out to pick up his head, grabbing it by the hair and lifting it off the floor. She ran forwards with a scream and kicked the head from his hands, watching open-mouthed as it sailed spectacularly across the infirmary and hit the far wall with a 'splat'. "My fourth-grade PE teacher would be so proud." She murmured, taking the sword up in her hands once more and shoving it through Sebastian's chest as her heart beat rapidly in her chest.

Both parts of Sebastian shimmered then vanished in a cloud of mist, and the sword clattered to the floor with a metallic clang. Clary dropped to her knees, wiping her damp forehead on her sleeve. "Shit." She muttered, looking down at Jace and Isabelle lying on the floor. Jace had his eyes on her, a puddle of blood forming on the front of his shirt as his chest heaved up and down.

"Well done." He whispered, his eyes closing against the pain as Clary crawled across the floor to him, fumbling in his pockets for a stele. "Right hand side, back pocket." He told her, his hands fumbling to unbutton his shirt as she slipped her hand beneath him and withdrew the pencil-like object from his pocket.

"Stop, stop." She fussed, batting aside his hands and ripping the shirt open. "Seriously Jace, you're freaking dying and you care about the buttons?" He shrugged and smiled meekly, his eyes flickering open for a second to look at her.

"How ironic. We finally get you back and lose ourselves." Clary shook her head and pressed the stele against his chest, drawing an iratze over the deep gash in his front. For good measure, she drew a few more around the wound and shifted to her feet, holding herself upright with her fingers.

"Stay still, don't… just don't move, okay? I'll be right back." She rubbed his wrist with an affectionate smile and scuttled over to Isabelle.

"Iz? Izzy?" She shook the girl's uninjured shoulder lightly, then took Jace's stele and scrawled the iratze on her shoulder, pulling up her shirt at the bottom to draw another iratze on her stomach.

Isabelle's hand caught at Clary's wrist, her other hand plucking Jace's stele from her fingers. "Leave it, I'll do it." She whispered, her lips curving into a smile. "I knew you could beat him. All this time… I never doubted you."

Clary stood awkwardly and walked back over to Jace, dropping onto the floor beside him and stroking the side of his face with the backs of her fingers. She wound strands of his hair between her fingers as he looked up into her eyes, his hands pressed over his chest. "Is this the part where you start tearing up your clothes to wind my wounds?"

"Shut up!" She laughed, hitting him gently on the shoulder then falling on top of him, wrapping her arms around his neck and tucking her hands under his head to cradle his skull. Her hair fell over his face as he turned towards her and kissed her gently on the neck, his hand moving from his chest to cradle her neck.

"I missed you." He whispered, his lips curling into a smile against her skin.

"I missed you too." She murmured in return, lifting her face from the floor to press her lips against his forehead. "Too much." Lifting her head again and looking down into his eyes, she ran her thumb gently along his cheekbone and moved her lips towards his.

Isabelle coughed and Clary immediately blushed, her head jolting upwards to look at the other girl. She smiled and threw the stele back over to Clary, tucking her hair behind her shoulder and wiping the blood from her shoulder with the palm of her hand. "Go on, I won't look."

Jace turned his head from Isabelle back towards Clary, a smile still playing on his lips. Clary tucked his hair back behind his ears and laced her fingers through the blonde strands, pressing her lips to his for the first time in what felt like a millennia. An impossible warmth spread through her body as their lips moved together, the whole world vanishing and leaving the two of them alone together, Jace's heart aching in his healing and bloody chest.

The magic ended in an instant when Jace's phone began to ring in his pocket. He tried to ignore it, but Clary pulled away and extracted the phone, listening in horror as Magnus hurriedly tried to explain everything. He didn't even notice that it was Clary that had answered the phone, as he stopped rambling and took a deep breath. "It's Alec."


	26. Chapter 25

Alec pushed open a door, the pull inside him like a magnet drawn forwards through the dank and dusty corridors of the Hotel Dumont. Fluttering and whispering sounded from the ceilings stories above his head as he passed under holes in the floorboards above his head, the pull dragging him down into the depths of the hotel basement. He moved down the last flight of stairs and into the only room so far down, two stories beneath street level. With his new vampire-senses, he swore he could almost hear the underground train rumbling by a few metres away from the far wall.

Maureen stepped outside of the darkness, her skin becoming instantly illuminated by the dull and disused light bulb swinging freely from the damp-stained ceiling. She grinned, her fangs sliding from their sheaths and delicately pricking her lips. "Alexander Lightwood. You made it, then?" She laughed, taking a step forwards and looking him up and down, examining his body from head to toe. "And still armed like a shadowhunter. Old habits die hard, I suppose?" She cocked her head to one side, pouting her lips and then laughing in his face. "No, you're not here for a chat. That much is true. Shall we get it over and done with? I'm sure you'd prefer a quick death."

"Ye- No! No, I'm here on my own terms, Maureen. I never asked for this life. I'll kill you for what you did to me." He drew his crossbow off his back and loaded it with an arrow, pointing it at the vampire's heart.

"Oh, you don't want to do that." She took another step forwards, so that the tip of the arrow was pressed to the skin directly above her heart. "Because you did this to yourself, Alexander. _You_ bit _me_. You didn't run off to get the cure like a good little shadowhunter. And I'm your '_sire_'- such a silly little term. I much prefer mistress. Yes, that'll do. I'm your _mistress_, Alec. And you _will _obey me."

The bow and arrow fell from Alec's hands, clattering bluntly to the floor. "Yes." His voice was dull and monotonous, his eyes huge and dark. "I will obey you."

She turned away from him and took a step back across the room. "Such a well-disciplined vampire. Such muscles, such strength. Yes, I could use you for great things…" She said with her back turned on him, before turning around to face him with his fangs extended. "It's just such a shame your allegiance lies elsewhere." She pouted again like a moody toddler, then whipped around and sunk her fangs into his wrist, dragging them up the white scar line from his earlier 'incident'.

Blood cascaded from his wrists and pooled on the floor as his feet, but his eyes were blank and unfeeling. "Yes, your blood contains that of the daylighter, Simon Lewis. And of course, there's that other little problem. Fraternising with warlocks? They're the enemy, you know. Talking is bad enough, but what the two of you get up to… Ack!" She spat out a mouthful of his blood and grinned into his face, her teeth stained with red.

"So, no immortal life for you Mr Lightwood. Nah, you'll just waste it. What good is it, living for eternity and using that power to fight on the losing side?" She grabbed his other arm and ran her teeth along the other freshly-healed scar, letting the blood trickle downwards. Shifting her weight so that she was standing on her toes, she grabbed the sides of his face and moved her lips to within a hair's width from his. Her cool breath caressed his skin as she exhaled once more, then in a flash whipped her head downwards.

She ripped his shirt from his flesh, tearing it with her fangs and clawing at it with her fingernails. Finally he stood before her, his bare chest glowing with the old scars of fading runes. The tattered arms of his thermal shirt hung at his shoulders, but his chest and neck were bare, his limbs frozen under Maureen's command.

A trickle of blood dripped down each of his arms and over his fingers, dripping and splashing into the ever-increasing pool at Alec's feet. Maureen ran her lips up the side of Alec's neck, still clutching the back of his head. "Such a shame." She whispered, digging her fangs into his bare skin and dragging them across, cutting his throat. Alec's breaths turned to gasps, the pain breaking through Maureen's command for just a moment. She stood flat on her feet; her hands pressed against his chest, and found the scar of the parabatai rune on his shoulder. Grinning, she grabbed at the flesh with her fingers and pulled it from the bone, ripping the skin from his body and throwing it to the floor with a wet 'slop'. "Goodbye, Alec." She smiled, turning to leave the room as she released the enchantment and he crumpled to the ground. "Sleep tight."

She pulled open the door to leave the room, but immediately backed towards Alec with fear in her eyes. Alec gargled on the floor, blood spilling from his wrists and pooling on his chest, dribbling out of the corner of his mouth as he gasped desperately for breath and jolted against spasms of pain. "You too." Jace said, stepping into the room with a loaded crossbow in his arms. Without hesitation, he pointed the bow at her chest and fired a stream of arrows through her heart. Her eyes rolled back and blood dripped from the wounds in her chest as she fell first to her knees, then onto her face. Jace breathed a sigh of relief, then looked down at Alec.

"Simon!" He screamed, his hands shaking as he tried to figure out where the most blood was coming from. "Oh my god. MAGNUS! SIMON!"

Clary ran into the room, her face paling at the sight of Alec. "Frick." She pulled off her shirt and pressed it into Alec's neck as he jolted against her, blood splattering her stomach as she stroked the side of his face. "Shush, it's okay. You'll be okay." She knew she was lying, she knew he was going to die. She bit her lip and pushed his hair back off his forehead. "Alec. Listen to me. You'll be alright. Magnus and Simon are on their way, they'll help you." His eyes looked up into her face and his mouth moved silently, forming just one word. Clary's lips had formed it so many times she knew in an instant the one thing he wanted, the only thing in the world he would ask for at his time of death. "Jace."


	27. Chapter 26

Alec was clawing as Jace's arm when Isabelle rushed into the room, shouting to Simon and Magnus that she'd found them. Clary wasn't paying too much attention though, as Jace had pulled Alec into a sitting position and was pulling aside his shirt to give him his neck. "Go on." He said, his eyes closing with defeat. "Drink."

Simon rushed into the room shortly after Isabelle and, seeing Alec latched into Jace's neck like a suckling child, relaxed. Only for a moment though, as his eyes quickly found the pool of blood on the floor and soaking Alec's clothes. He ran forwards, spitting onto his hands and rubbing the venom into Alec's wounds. "Come on, come on." He muttered to himself as Magnus rushed into the room. His face paled, his eyes darkening as he looked down at Alec, not seeing Maureen's body lying unmoving in the shadows.

"Did he do this to himself?" He asked, looking at Clary. She shook her head numbly, watching on helplessly as Jace's skin turned grey.

"Maureen." She choked, stepping forwards to help Jace but stepping back as Alec growled. "Jace took her down, but it was too late."

Magnus ran over to Alec, pushing Simon aside and running his hands over Alec arms, chest and neck, erasing his wounds as though they were merely pencil marks on his skin. Jace slumped to the floor as Alec pulled away, lying back on the floor and gasping for air. Everyone took a step back, Isabelle rushing around to Jace and scrawling a blood replenishment rune and an iratze on the side of his neck. "Stupid boy." She muttered, but nobody quite knew which boy she was referring to. Jace smiled weakly, his head aching from a curious concoction of drama and blood loss.

"He'll be like Simon now." He grinned, then let his eyes slide shut with exhaustion. Clary slid to the floor beside him and began to stroke his hair, running her fingers down the side of his face as she looked around the room at her companions.

"What now?" She asked, looking to Magnus for instruction.

"Now we dispose of the body." He smiled, but Clary could see that his heart wasn't in it. He raised his hand and with a click of his fingers, Maureen's body vanished.

"Where did it go?" Isabelle asked. "You can't just make stuff appear- it has to come from somewhere, right? So when you make stuff vanish, where do you make it go? Children's birthday parties? Do you have a deal with Hannibal Lector?"

Magnus chuckled, bending down and pulling Alec to his feet. "You'd be surprised how much extra room there is in a coffin. Half of the population of the NYC graveyard has an extra downworlder or two lodging with them." He winked, then took Isabelle's stele from her hand and passed it to Clary. "Get us out of here."

"I have my own. Well, it's technically Jace's…" Clary blushed, pulling out her stele and scrawling a portal on the far wall of the room. The wall shimmered, and she tucked Jace's stele back into the back pocket of her jeans as she went to help him up. "Let's go home."

Clary scooped up the mail from the downstairs mailbox and sieved through the letters as she walked up the stairs. Most were for Magnus, and she slid them into the bin just inside the front door of his penthouse apartment. Of course, it wasn't an actual bin. Clary had scrawled a rune on the bottom of the plastic tub, which turned the bin into a sort of portal that would transfer all of Magnus' mail to its partner- which was a red velvet sack that Magnus kept in his suitcase.

"We've got another postcard!" She shouted, taking off her scarf and hanging it on the peg beside the door. Jace ran up behind her and wrapped his arms around her torso, nuzzling the back of her neck with his face. She turned to face him, a half-moon smile on her face as she brushed her nose against his. "Hey." Her voice dropped to a whisper and she pressed her lips into Jace's in welcome.

"They're in the kitchen." He murmured, kissing her back. She pulled back with a wink, then entwined her fingers with his and dragged him through the living room to the kitchen. Isabelle was sitting at the breakfast bar with a mug of steaming tea in her fingers, and Simon was leaning against the other side of the counter with a glass of blood in his hands.

Jace stood beside Simon with his hands in his pockets as Clary looked down at the postcard, her cheeks and nose still pink from outside. "It's from _Paris_." She grinned, looking at the picture, then turned the card over to read from the back while everyone could look at the image- the Eiffel Tower at sunset. "Dear all, hoping you are well. We have just arrived in Paris after a delightful stay in London. Alec can't get enough of the sun, it's like he thought he'd never see it again- winky face. Just writing to let you know that we'll be home soon- we ran into some Peruvian vampires at the last airport and they don't seem all that pleased to see me. With you shortly, Magnus." Clary laughed and stuck the postcard on the fridge. "What exactly happened in Peru? Does anyone even know for sure?"

"I heard he got curious with an alpaca." Simon shrugged, downing the last of his blood and rinsing out his glass in the sink. "Of course, that's just a rumour going around the clan but…"

"An alpaca? I thought he got into some trouble with demon opiates." Jace said, grinning mischievously.

Isabelle laughed, passing her empty mug across to Simon. "No! That was in London, Camille told me. Personally I think it's a lot simpler than that. He's been around a long time, since before the accords. He probably just got into a fight with some vampires and killed them off, and now the rest of the clan kind of hate him for it."

Jace smiled as Clary came up to him, sliding her arms under his and tucking her hands into the back pockets of his jeans. Simon and Isabelle were too busy arguing about the 'Peru Incident' to notice as they left the kitchen and stepped from the apartment, clambering up the last flight of stairs and onto the top of the roof. Clary took Jace's hand and led him to the edge of the building, where the pair sat with their legs dangling over the busy streets of New York City below.

"I didn't think it would all work out okay, you know?" Clary said with her face pressed against Jace's shoulder. "That Maryse would get to keep the institute; that Alec would come to terms with everything. I didn't even know for sure that I'd be okay, after everything. I heard what Brother Zachariah said, about being tainted with evil. And it's true- I feel different, at least. That's where I went- the Silent City. The brothers had a root around in my mind and there's nothing there, no evidence that she ever even touched me. It's amazing." She watched as the cars below snaked through the labyrinthine streets, jumping as Jace's arm slid around her back and gripped onto her ribs.

"You're amazing." He whispered, and her head turned towards him with a smile on her lips.

"You're a Herondale." She grinned then, and kissed him like she'd never kissed him before. Her hands gripped the sides of his face and they pulled each other backwards onto the flat roof, their legs still dangling over the edge as their lips parted and met and they clutched hands, Clary looking past Jace's head and up at the blue sky as it started to darken with the setting sun. Clary was breathless as she gazed up into Jace's shining gold eyes, his cheekbones glowing in the orange sunlight. "And you're perfect."


	28. Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Alec opened his eyes and squinted up at Magnus as the dawn streamed through a gap in the long white curtains of their hotel room. He smiled as the warmth hit his face, and watched as the light hit the floating dust particles and made them shine. Rolling over, he wrapped his arm over Magnus' bare chest and nuzzled into his neck, caressing the warlock's collarbone with his lips. "Good morning." Magnus whispered, rubbing his finger in tiny circles in the small of Alec's back. Alec shifted under the duvet and rested his head on Magnus' chest, moving his arm to lie across his midriff, and tracing his ribs with his fingertips.

"Morning." He smiled, watching Magnus' flat stomach rise and fall with each breath. "I love you." He whispered, sliding his hand up Magnus' side and over his chest, wrapping his fingers around his shoulder as he slid his finger across his collar bone.

"I love you too." Alec dragged himself away from Magnus, climbing out of bed and stretching out his arms. "Ready to face the music?"

Alec rubbed his face with his hands, dislodging the sleep from his eyes and momentarily putting some colour into his cheeks. "It's now or never." He yawned, grabbing his jeans from the floor and pulling them over his legs. "I can't avoid them for the rest of their lives."

"Well…" Magnus started, but Alec gave him the look. He clambered out of the bed and pulled his shirt over his head, wriggling into his jeans and slipping his feet into his socks. His hair was tousled, sticking up in all directions, and Alec's heart did a somersault in his chest as he watched him through his eyelashes. Over the years, he'd never quite gotten used to Magnus' beauty, and even now Alec couldn't believe that this man was his. He twisted the silver ring on his finger as Magnus wrapped his hands around his waist from behind and kissed him gently on the cheek. "Let's go."

Simon stood in the hotel lobby, his backpack slung over one shoulder and his jacket hanging off the other. He grinned when Alec and Magnus stepped out of the lift, handing the key-card to their room to the woman behind the desk, along with a rather impressive wad of notes something that sounded a lot like 'keep the change'. "Hey guys." Simon smiled, rubbing his hair with his fist as the pair wandered over. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." Alec smiled, then looked up at Magnus and grabbed his hand.

Clary stood in the kitchen, her hands and clothes covered in flour. Jace snuck up behind her and patted his hands in the flour on the counter, then wiped them on her cheeks. "Hey!" She laughed, throwing a handful of flour at his shirt.

"Mom!" Will put his head in his hands and watched them through a gap between his fingers. "Grow up!"

Clary laughed, leaning her elbows on the kitchen table and looking down at her son's sketchbook. "What are you drawing?"

Jace smiled as he watched them together, and their daughter toddled into the kitchen. "Mommy!" She laughed, reaching up with her chubby little hands. Clary lifted her onto her lap, and the girl wiped the flour from her face, laughing as she was covered in a thin layer of the white dust.

"Come on Charlotte, Mommy's baking." He winked, lifting his daughter from Clary's lap and tucking a ringlet of her shiny blonde hair behind her ear.

"It's me, when I'm a shadowhunter." The seven-year-old whispered, putting down his pencil as he finished a rune on the shoulder of the teenage boy on the page. His flame-red hair was the only part of the page that had been coloured, but for the black runes snaking over his skin.

"And what's this rune?" Clary asked innocently, pointing to the one on his shoulder.

"The parabatai rune. One day, I'll have a brother just like Dad did." His golden eyes glittered as he looked at his mother, his lips curling into a smile.

"He never lost his brother, not really." Clary smiled, rubbing the boy's hair with her floury hands. "Want to help me clear this lot up?"

A knock sounded from the front door, a persistent bang, really. Clary looked up as Jace put his head around the kitchen door. "Stay here, William." She whispered, taking Charlotte from Jace's arms and putting her on the floor next to the boy. "Keep an eye on your sister."

Clary grabbed a knife from the kitchen counter as she followed Jace across their apartment to the front door, while Jace picked up an umbrella from the stand next to the door. She looked at him incredulously, but he just shrugged while he unfastened the chain and pulled open the door.

"Hey Jace." Isabelle smiled, leaning in to hug him. "It's only me, put down the weapons guys! Chill! Where are the kids?"

"Aunty Iz!" Will shouted, running from the kitchen with his sketchbook in his hands. Charlotte followed closely after, holding one of his pencils. Clary nimbly plucked the pencil from her hands and slid it into her back pocket as Will jumped onto the sofa, patting the sofa for Isabelle to sit next to him.

Jace was about to sit on the sofa on the other side of Isabelle, to watch as Will explained his drawing, when someone else thumped their fists on their front door. Clary exchanged glances with Isabelle, then ran to the door with Jace and placed her hand on the handle. They counted to three in silence, then pulled open the door.

"Jace." Alec smiled, his face identical to how it had been twelve years earlier.

Jace almost leapt at Alec, throwing his arms around his friend's shoulders and holding him as close to his body as he could. "Alec." He gasped, tears prickling his eyes.

"What's this?" Alec asked, once Jace had pulled back. He reached past Clary and pushed open the door to their apartment, looking in at Isabelle sat on the sofa, the two children on either side of her. "Are these yours?" He looked back at Jace, his eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Yeah." Clary smiled, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around Alec.

"Hey!" A voice shouted from the stairwell. "We agreed we'd do it together!" Clary looked over Alec's shoulder, drawing back from his embrace and watching as Magnus and Simon stepped around the corner. At the sight of her childhood friend, who had not changed even minutely since the last time she had seen him, tears pricked her eyes.

"Simon." She choked, running out to meet him and jumping into his arms.

"Clary." He smiled warmly, looking into her face. She was still young, but the skin at the corners of her eyes crinkled more when she smiled, and the red of her hair had faded to almost brown.

"Come here." She said, grabbing his hand and pulling him after her. She joined Jace at the door to their apartment and released Simon's hand, grinning at Jace through red eyes.

"Kids, there's some really special guys you have to meet." She said, as she stepped back into the living room. Magnus walked around the corner, his jacket clutched in his hands and a backpack slung over his shoulder. "This is Magnus Bane. He's a warlock, and a good friend of ours."

Isabelle smiled as William's mouth dropped open and he gasped. "A real life warlock? Woah." Will stood up, his sketchbook falling open on the floor.

"And this is Simon." Clary said, letting the vampire into their home. "He's a vampire." At this William ducked back onto the sofa and buried himself behind Isabelle's arm, and Simon laughed.

"And this," Jace said, standing aside. Isabelle's face lit up as Alec stepped around the corner, and Will extracted himself from his hiding place. "Is Alec. My brother."


End file.
